The Secrets We Carry
by Midnight523
Summary: The SRU is hosting a cadet program, and these cadets are making their own team. But what happens when two cadets are keeping a huge secret, and this secret is coming back to haunt them? Will they be able to trust their team? Rated T because I'm not sure
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So, this is my first ever fanfic story, though I read these all the time. I would love to have some constructive criticism, but please remember the saying: If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.**

**I hope you all like the story!**

Lucia let out a satisfied sigh as she finished her two-mile run. Toronto was a nice place to run; the eighteen-year-old actually felt safe going through the neighborhoods and going down the roads. Slowing down to a steady jog, she slowed again to a walk and then finally a stop. Taking a breath, she glanced at her watch and smiled. She still had plenty of time to go and pick up Justin and take him to his friend's house.

She continued her walk home, not leisurely but not running either. She reached her house and let herself in, calling out to her foster mom that she was home. Justin came running down and threw himself to her, with her catching him and spinning him around. He squealed. "Lucia! Can we go now? Please?"

She smiled and laughed. "Let me get changed, all right kiddo? Then I'll take you over." He yelled with joy and skipped around the kitchen. She quickly got changed, deciding she could shower after dropping her little brother off. Grinning, she ran down the stairs and stopped in the kitchen for a quick drink and an apple.

Justin already had his coat on, jumping up and down with all the patience the eight-year-old could muster for his sister. She ruffled his hair and picked up her sweatshirt, grabbed Justin's hand, and let him lead her out the door.

After dropping Justin off, she started towards home again, startled to hear her name called out. Turning around, she saw Clark Lane and Dean Parker heading towards her. They were two boys who had befriended her and showed her around the city of Toronto. She stood and waited for them to catch up.

"Where are you off to today, super sister?"

She laughed. "Just about to head home and take a shower. I had to get Justin to his friend's house, but he didn't exactly let me take a break to have a shower. I seriously need to get one."

"Yah, you totally stink! We weren't going to say anything . . . oww!" Clark yelled. Lucia had hit him on the head. "What was that for?"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to tell a girl that she stinks?" she demanded, a twinkle in her eye.

He pouted at her. "She taught me that I should be honest." Lucia and Dean laughed. Clark elbowed Dean, and when he got his laughter under control, he spoke.

"What we wanted to know was if you wanted to come over to the SRU headquarters with us and meet our parents."

She gave them a confused look. "Why are your parents at the SRU? Are they in trouble?"

Clark slapped his friend. "Nice going, Dean." He turned to Lucia. "What he meant to say is that our parents work for the SRU, they are on Team 1."

"Oh. Yeah, sure I guess. But I would really appreciate it if I could take a shower first. You guys can come and wait at the house if you like, I'm sure Mary has made some sandwiches or something by now." Mary was her foster mom, she and her husband, Dave, had taken Lucia and Justin in, along with their other brothers, Kyle (16), and the triplets: Ben, Nick, and John (15).

The two boys agreed and the three headed towards the house, laughing and joking. Mary greeted them warmly and ushered the boys to the kitchen, where freshly made cookies and some sandwiches. Lucia headed up to grab a quick shower; when she came down Clark and Dean were polishing off their plate of cookies and sandwiches. She snagged a sandwich and a couple of cookies and nodded to the guys. "I'm ready to go." Turning to Mary, she said, "Dean and Clark finally decided that it's time to meet the families. After two weeks of dealing with them, they finally decide I can meet their parents." She laughed and ushered them out the door.

"Lucia, what time will the boys be home?"

Lucia glanced back. "The triplets are supposed to be done baseball practice at about five, so they should be home about five thirty. Kyle said he'd be home sometime after six; he's picking up Justin on the way. I'll probably be home in a couple of hours, too. It's two, and . . ." she looked at Dean and Clark, "so I'll be home sometime around five, maybe? I'll give you a call to let you know."

"All right, have fun."

The three teens walked and talked for about fifteen minutes. The guys wanted to ride the bus, but Lucia managed to deter them from the idea and convince them that walking was 'good for their soul'. They grumbled a bit but ultimately agreed to the twenty-minute walk.

They reached the building and entered. A blonde haired lady was sitting behind a desk. Dean talked to her. "Hey, Kira, this is Lucia. She's new around here."

Kira smiled. "How did you end up with these two?"

Lucia groaned dramatically. "Well, they somehow managed to corner me and convince me to let them show me around the city, but this is the first time that they even talked about letting me meet their parents."

Kira laughed. She spoke to Dean and Clark. "Team one is in the work out room. They just got on shift." The kids thanked them and started back to the work out room. The closer she got, the more nervous Lucia became. These were cops, and if what Dean and Clark said were true, they were the most elite team in the city. What if they found out her secret?

She brushed the thought out of her mind and put on her trademark smile, her mask. Clark and Dean walked right in, but she stayed by the door.

"Hey, Clark, Dean, what's up you guys?" asked a man on the bike. He was mostly bald, and he had a kind face.

"Hey, dad," Dean replied. "We just wanted you to meet Lucia." He looked over at her and motioned for her to come in. She did so without hesitation, trying to appear confident. Dean and Clark introduced her to everyone.

Dean's dad, Greg, was the one on the bike, and Spike was running on the treadmill. Wordy was spotting Ed by the weights, Sam was going at the punching bag, and Lou and Jules were sparring. They all came over to greet her and shake her hand, saying what a pleasure it was to meet her. She responded in kind, smiling and laughing when appropriate.

Greg had just asked her about her family when they all heard "_Team One, hot call, suit up." _

Greg looked apologetically at her, but she didn't mind. The team left and Lucia looked at Dean and Clark. They talked for a while until Lucia felt her phone buzz. She read the message and looked at her friends. "Sorry, guys, looks like I have to bail. Family problems."

They shrugged, but Dean called after her. "Hey, Lu! Check this out before you go!" He handed her a flyer. "Team One is hosting a cadet program, and I was wondering if you wanted to do it."

She glanced it over. "Are you guys doing it?"

Clark grinned. "Yeah. It would be much more interesting if you joined in, though. We're apparently going to be making our own cadet team, and with the three of us, what subject could possible succeed?"

Lucia smiled as she headed out again. "I'll think about it. See you guys later!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey people!**

**So, this story isn't really about Team One at all. They show up, of course, they're the people who are training, but this isn't about them at all. This is all about the cadets (as soon as we get to it). Sorry if you wanted more of Team One, but it's just not what I'm writing about. **

**Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter!**

When Lucia entered her home, she saw what the problem was immediately. "Guys," she groaned. "What did you do?"

Her three identical brothers looked at her, faces masking into that of innocent angels. "Do, Lucia? Whatever are you talking about?"

She scowled at them. "I'm talking about the fact that Nick over there is sporting a black eye, and you two," she gestured towards Ben and John, "have bruises on your knuckles. Probably from punching someone?" she asked, looking Nick over. "You all right, bud?"

Nick nodded, but he didn't say anything. She sent him off, then looked at the remaining two triplets. "What happened?"

John looked at Ben, and Ben sighed. "It started out as some stupid fight. One of the bullies was making fun of Nick, saying he was too small and skinny to be of any use on any kind of team." He scowled. "When he couldn't get a rise out of Nick, he started shoving him around. John and I went over and told him to back off, and just then practice started." He looked down at his hands, and Lucia realized he was shaking in anger.

John picked up the story from there. "It was just about to be Nick's turn to practice batting, and the jerk was right after him. So right when Nick was heading towards home plate, the jerk," Lucia was surprised they weren't giving any names, "picked up his bat and swung it. Right into Nick's eye." Lucia was shocked, unable to do anything but stare at her brothers. John looked down at his hands. "I know you tell us we shouldn't fight, but he deserved it Lu! He hit Nick in the eye purposefully, and he just laughed. We kind of just lost control after that."

"What happened after that?" Lucia managed to ask calmly.

"Coach kicked him off the team, then said that we were suspended from practice for a week, and we couldn't play in the next game." Lucia lifted an eyebrow, surprised. She thought her two brothers would be in much more trouble than that. "He said he understood why we beat him up, but he couldn't not take away the punishment. Besides, we were pulled apart before any real damage could be done."

Lucia nodded her head. "I can't exactly punish you for sticking up for Nick. Was 'the jerk' picking on you guys as well?"

John shook his head. "No. You know Nick is a bit smaller than us, and he always goes for the peace option instead of showing off his strength or anything. And you know he won't fight back."

"That's not a weakness, you know," she pointed out mildly.

"I know!" John hastily assured her. "Honestly, I think he's stronger than both of us." Ben nodded his head in agreement. "The problem is, when he doesn't respond in anyway to these stupid remarks, especially when it seems like he doesn't try to stand up for himself, people see him as an easy target, and I hate that, Lu. I hate that we can't just make them all go away."

"Oh, kiddo," Lucia sighed. She sat in between her brothers. "I know moving here was difficult, especially because we have to put up with stuff like this. All I can say is that one day it will get better. One day, we can go home."

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"What did you think of Lucia, Wordy?" Ed asked his long-time friend.

Wordy shrugged, getting into the car after a successful hot call. No one had died, and everyone had left peacefully after only an hour of negotiations. "She seemed like a good kid, but seemed a bit…" he struggled a bit to find the right word.

"On edge?" Sergeant Greg Parker suggested.

Spike shrugged from his spot in the passenger seat of Sam's car. "I think she was nice. She certainly looked like she kept Dean and Clark on their toes. Besides, she just met a bunch of good looking guys, she had to have been speechless," he joked. Everyone laughed as they headed back for the debriefing.

When they reached the station, they were surprised to find that Dean and Clark were still there. "Nice job, Dad," Dean said, and Clark echoed him.

"What are you guys still doing here?" Ed asked.

Clark laughed. "I wanted to leave after Lucia left, but Dean here wanted to listen and take notes on how to talk down a subject for the cadet program next week." He poked Dean. "He also just _had_ to ask Lucia to join the cadet program too." He wiggled his eyebrows and ducked as Dean swung at him playfully.

Spike whistled. "Little Dean is growing up," he laughed. The rest of the team joined in as well, and Dean just rolled his eyes.

"Here I thought I was dealing with mature adults. No, I'm dealing with a bunch of second graders!" he grumbled good-naturedly.

"So what did she say?"

"She'll think about it. Which probably means yes when it comes to her." With that, Clark and Dean bid farewell and Team One went into a conference room to debrief.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

At home, Lucia was debating the cadet program. More than anything, she wanted to join, but she saw how close that team was. If she were to succeed, she would probably get that close if not closer to her new teammates. If she did, would they want to know about her background, her family? Those were questions she couldn't really answer.

She sighed, flopping back against her bed. She wished she could call him, ask him his opinion. But she couldn't call him, or anyone else from there. They couldn't know where she was.

She was still waging her internal war when there was a knock on her door. She sat up as Kyle came in. He looked at her on the bed, flier in hand, and raised an eyebrow, silently asking what was going on.

She passed him the flier, and he looked it over wordlessly. "You gonna do it?"

Lucia shrugged. "I don't know if I should. It sounds like fun, but…"

"You're going to have to trust them if you want to be on their team." She nodded. Kyle shrugged. "You gotta trust people sometime, Lu. We can't live here and have no friends or people we can count on."

"I know, it's just… You know why I'm thinking this, K. We came here to escape the past, and look what I'm doing. Getting right back into what caused us trouble in the first place."

Her little brother sat down next to her. "I was wondering why you were debating this. I'm surprised you hadn't already said yes." She looked at him, this time it was she with the eyebrow raised. "You were born for this stuff, Lu. It's just a part of who you are. You constantly want the rush, the happiness of helping people, the adrenaline that comes with the job. It's just who you are."

She sighed. "I guess. It's going to be long hours, though, and—"

"We'll survive, Lu," Kyle said playfully. "Besides, if we do get in trouble, we will have an awesome SRU team to get us out of it."

"Right," Lucia drawled. "Like I'm going to waste my time trying to get you lot out of trouble."

She shoved him off the bed, but he grabbed her arm and twisted her off with him. He swung playfully at her, causing her to block and swing back. They continued their mock fight as Kyle said, "You lot?"

She glared at him. "I can say what I want to say," she huffed.

He just shook his head and laughed.

**Hope you enjoyed! I promise that it'll get better soon. Right now, though, I have to set the scene. Reviews would be greatly appreciated so I know what you all think of this.**

**Ealasaid Una:** **I can't tell you their secret yet, but please keep reading to find out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So… just realized that I never did a disclaimer in my first couple chapters. Unfortunately, that is not because I actually own Flashpoint, but merely because I just forgot. Without further ado: Flashpoint is not mine **

**Thank you to those who reviewed and are following, I never imagined people would actually like this enough to follow this story. So without further ado…**

A week had passed since Lucia and Kyle's conversation. The triplets were back in baseball practices, Justin had made a lot of new friends, and Kyle decided to try out for the SRU cadet program with his sister.

Ten people had decided to try out, but three dropped out after the first three days. They had wanted to join to be able to shoot people, and when they were told that guns only came as a last resort, they sneered and left.

The last seven had been put through a challenging program of negotiations, hand to hand combat, strategic development classes, some gun work, and more. There were ups and downs for everyone there, and Team One, who were in charge of their training, made sure to work with each person on their weaknesses and help them build it into something slightly stronger.

Dean was especially good at negotiations, though his hand-to-hand combat could definitely use some work. Clark was good at less-lethal entry and sniping, but his negotiations and strategic entry were something that needed to be built up. Kyle was fast and lethal at the hand-to-hand combat, and unlike his sister, could handle negotiations decently well. However, also unlike his sister, he was not good at strategic entry.

Lucia was definitely enjoying the strategic aspect of SRU. She had always loved finding out the best way to enter buildings without anyone knowing they were there, had always been good at finding that one specific twist to make sure none of her friends and family were injured. She was also decent at hand-to-hand combat, but preferred fighting with a weapon, whether it be a knife or her preferred weapon of choice. Negotiations were definitely tough on her, mostly because they kept saying to use her history to connect with the subject, and she was pretty sure no one wanted to hear about her history.

The other three people were also good. Only one other girl had tried out: Danielle McCarthy. The two others were Sean Lorskin and Ryan Peters. Ryan was definitely into the sniping, though he enjoyed negotiations somewhat. Sean was a tech whiz-Lucia was pretty sure he was a hacker, and he also enjoyed talking with Spike about dismantling bombs. Danielle was very much into negotiation and less lethal entry. She liked carrying the shields that the SRU had them practice on, and she loved to connect and talk down Team One when they were pretending to be subjects.

Lucia knew that she would grow close to each of these teens. Kyle and Danielle were the youngest, being only sixteen. Ryan and Clark were both seventeen, and the rest were eighteen years old. Lucia enjoyed hanging around with each of them during the first training week, and would correctly guess that she would grow close to them in the months to come.

She smiled. She was so happy Kyle had talked her into signing up.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"Team Five, I want you in the warm-up room in two minutes!" Lucia yelled.

"Ma'am, yes sir!" yelled back Whiz, dramatically saluting her. She flicked him on the forehead and smiled, gesturing for him to get a move on. She was already in her warm-up clothes and headed towards said room.

Two weeks had passed since tryouts, and they had indeed formed their own team, and she had been named Team Leader. Dean had been named Sarge of their young team, and this did not surprise Lucia in the slightest. He was the best at negotiations.

Every person in the new team had been given nicknames, though none of the other SRU teams had yet to call them by it. Dean was either "Sarge" or MS (mini-sarge) when around other teams. Kyle had understandably been deemed "Ninja" by his teammates. Clark was Wheels, mostly because he was an amazingly fast driver and could get them anywhere in half the time that it normally took to get to their destination. Danielle was Red, for her red hair, Sean was Whiz, Ryan was Sharpshot, or Sharp for short, and Lucia had somehow been handed the nickname "Snips". She still didn't know why she was called that.

Kyle caught up to her and nudged her on the shoulder. She looked over at him and tilted her head. In response, he gave her his phone. Taking in the message, she handed back and winked at her brother.

"Macculloh!"

Both Kyle and Lucia spun around on their heels, startling Ed Lane as he almost ran into them. "Sir?" they asked.

"I meant Lucia," he replied. "Sorry. Not used to having two people with the same last names."

"You know dad, it would be easier if you just referred to them by their nicknames," Clark commented as he passed them, heading towards the workout room. Lane just shook his head.

"Boss wants to meet with you and Dean in five minutes in the conference room." He headed away towards said room, leaving Lucia to find her boss. When she looked to her right, Kyle had already disappeared. Sighing, she went to Dean, who had shown up, and relayed the message. They headed off.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"All right guys, listen up," Dean said. Team Five was gathered around their boss, looking expectantly between him and Lucia. Dean looked towards his second in command. "Snips?"

She shook her head at the name but smiled. "Team One has decided we're ready to try an evaluation of sorts," she said. "You guys remember the obstacle course?" Head nods from all around. "Do you remember the house behind it?"

This time there was a pause as they tried to recollect that certain memory. She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that that is going to be our hostage scene. Teams One and Three are setting it up right now. We are going to have some sort of hostage situation, we'll get briefed more when we get there." She smiled at her team's obvious excitement, but reigned it back in. "Guys, this is going to be like the real deal. We have to stay calm and focused, okay? We're going to have a lot of people watching us, and they are going to use our response to this to debate whether or not to keep this team going."

They all sobered immediately as Dean clapped Lucia on the shoulder. "Well, on that happy note we had best get moving," he said cheerfully. "Let's go, Team Five. Gear up."

**I know this chapter seems short, but the next one is going to be this team going to their first evaluation! Let's go, Team Five!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and is now following my story, I absolutely love it. And while I should be working on my essay right now, this is just so much more fun than that. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me**

Team Five showed up at the house of their first evaluation, each wearing their vest with the word CADET bolded in the back, in place of their actual name. They moved towards their instructor.

"All right guys, are you ready?" Sergeant Parker asked. Team Five nodded all around him. "Get to it."

Most of the team just stared at him, and he smiled. Lucia and Dean, however, quickly took charge. "Whiz, into the command truck," Dean ordered. "I want information on whatever is going on in there. See if we can get a visual, as well."

"On it, Sarge." Whiz ran off to do his job. "Snips?"

"All right, Sharp, I want you to find a visual for me, you're Sierra One. For right now you're the only Sierra, Wheels will be joining you shortly." Sharp ran off to find a vantage point. "Wheels, Ninja, and Red, see if you can get a camera anywhere. I'm going to get info from Sarge."

"We're going to need to get visual of our own, guys," Whiz reported. "There are no security cameras in there at all."

Lucia nodded. "Alright guys let's see if we can get a cam in there without alerting them. Sharp?"

"Getting into position," Sharp grunted. "Alright, I have a visual. There appears to be three people in there, two adults, one male and one female, and one teenage boy."

'Teenager?' Kyle mouthed to Lucia. She shrugged. She had no idea where they had gotten a teenager to play the part.

"The teenager is holding the gun," Sharp reported. "The adults are tied to chairs in the room, back to back."

"Good Sharp," Sarge said. "Stay there, we may need you. We have information," he said, speaking to all of them. "The parents are Michael, 47, and Sharon, 46, Johnson. The son is fifteen, his name is Richard."

"Copy that," Lucia replied. "Do we have any reasons why this might be happening?"

"Working on it," Whiz replied.

"Okay, Snips, I'm going to start negotiations, see if I can get anything on this family. I need you working on entry plans."

"Already on it, Sarge," she replied. "Red, I want you with me. Wheels, you and Ninja go around back, see if you can get in through there. We're going in front."

The two boys nodded and ran off to the back as Lucia and Red pulled their paintball-filled guns and entered through the front door. They checked each of the rooms, making sure there was no one else in the house before heading upstairs. They ended up right outside of the room with the hostages inside.

"Boss, I have a clear shot now, but if the kid moves I lose my vantage point," Sharp said into his comm.

Lucia turned to Wheels. "Grab your gun and find another vantage point," she instructed quietly. "You're Sierra Two."

"On it, Snips," Wheels whispered back before quietly exiting the house.

"Red, do you have the camera?" she whispered. She could hear the phone ringing and knew that Sarge had started his negotiations. Red nodded affirmatively. "Can you get it on the door, facing the room, without them seeing you?" she asked.

Red looked uncertain, but Kyle stepped up. "I can, if you want," he offered quietly. Red nodded and gave him the camera. He set it up and was back within minutes. "Done."

"I have a visual," Whiz reported. "And more information. Richard apparently has a younger sister, Emily, age seven."

"Where is she?" Lucia asked. Where were the SRU getting these kids?

"In the hospital." Red, Ninja, and Lucia all looked at each other in confusion. "Broken arm, cracked ribs, cuts and bruises all over her body, and a serious concussion. It was reported that she fell down the stairs."

"Because falling down the stairs leaves you with cuts all over your body," Ninja said sarcastically. Even though this was just an evaluation, Lucia knew her brother was extremely angry over this case. "He's trying to protect his sister, guys," Ninja reported. "If it was the parents abusing her, or just mom or dad, whatever, then he's trying to protect his sister. He thinks the only way to protect her is to get rid of the threat. His parents."

Lucia nodded. Team One had given them a very challenging first evaluation. It was hard to negotiate in cases like this, when all you wanted was for the people who had done wrong to just disappear. However, them dying would mean Richard went to jail, which was not a choice. They had to get this kid to stand down.

"He's hung up on me, guys," Sarge reported. They could hear the frustration in his voice, but he calmed down quickly. "Any suggestions?"

"Well, less lethal we have a couple of options. Obviously, one of them is you talking him down. If that doesn't work, we have tear gas. We also have the option of distraction before a hand-to-hand combat to neutralize the threat. Sharp and Wheels are on call for lethal, but I don't think we need to go that far," Lucia reported.

"What are you thinking for distraction?"

"You come out here, talk to him face to face, while Ninja goes around back. Red and I will provide cover for you. If need be, Ninja can use surprise to take him down from behind."

"Is there another way into the room?"

"Yes," Ninja replied. "There's an air vent large enough to crawl through that comes behind the bed. Richard won't be able to see me."

"Okay, do it," he instructed. Ninja ran off.

"It also would show your face to him," Red offered. "It might make Richard trust you more if he can actually see the person behind the voice, see that you're only here to help him."

"All right, I'm on my way. The time it takes for me to get to the house, will that be enough time for you to get in position, Ninja?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Snips, Red, I'll be there in a few minutes. Stay there."

"Cause we were so planning on going in there and having tea," Lucia whispered sarcastically to her partner.

"And you wonder why we call you Snips," Red remarked. Lucia just shook her head. Sarge arrived shortly, and Ninja whispered that he was in position. Red picked up the shield as Lucia readied her weapon.

"Richard?" Sarge called. "It's Sergeant Parker, with the SRU. We talked on the phone, remember?" He got no response. "Is it okay if I come in?"

"Do you have guns?"

"My friends have guns," Sarge replied honestly. "But they're only there for protection. They don't want to hurt you."

"…Fine."

Red and Lucia took the lead, slowly walking into the room. Sarge came last, hands raised slightly to show that he had no weapon. Richard looked at them like they were crazy. "You're kids," he said finally.

Lucia had to smother her laughter down. Richard obviously didn't know that the SRU had a cadet program. He had probably been told he was helping with the training of new recruits, and thought they were supposed to be adults.

"Teenagers, actually," Sarge replied good-naturedly. "I was wondering, Richard, what can we do to make sure everyone gets out of here safely?"

Richard's face closed off again, going from confused to dangerous. "Nothing," he said. "These people," he spat, "are never going to be able to hurt anyone ever again."

"You don't want to kill them, Richard," Sarge said. "You're-"

"You don't know crap about what I want!" Richard yelled. "It's not even what I want, it's what I need to do. I need to kill them, I need to protect her."

"Emily."

Richard's shoulders straightened, and he moved closer to his father. "So you see why I have to do this," he hissed. "She needs to be protected. Falling down the stairs? Who even uses that excuse anymore?"

"If you kill them, Richard, what will happen to Emily?"

He looked up, confused. "What do you mean? She'll be safe."

"From them, yeah. But she's going to need you."

"No. She's better off without me. I couldn't protect her." Tears were coming freely from his eyes. "What kind of big brother am I, that I couldn't protect her from her own parents?" He had the gun shoved in his father's face. "Do you know what they do?" he asked Sarge, who just shook his head mutely. "My dad here has a temper. He likes to hit things, throw things. It started out as plates. When he was angry, he would throw plates at the wall. Just something to vent, you know? Then he started on me. I hated it, but it was better than him hurting Emily, so I just took it. Mom just watched. She didn't want him to go and hit her, but she didn't care if we were hurt.

"I took it," he whispered. "Whatever he dished out to me, I took it. Without complaint. I never told anyone, I never tried to stop him. I just didn't want him to hurt Emily." He shook his head, not talking for a moment. "I was late coming home from school. I had needed to ask for a teacher's help for this project coming up. I couldn't have been more than ten minutes late. But he was so mad. And Emily was here." It was taking every ounce of self-control that Lucia had not to shoot that man in the head. "He hurt her because I was late." Lucia was beginning to see where this was going. "He hurt her because of me."

"It was not your fault," Sarge said forcefully. Richard looked up at him, surprised at the conviction in his words. "But you need to think about Emily right now, and about what will happen to her if you do this."

"What do you mean?"

"You kill your parents, Richard, and you will go to jail. There is no question about that. And Emily will be alone in this world. She won't have a family, she won't have anyone to take care of her, and she will end up in the foster care system. Maybe she'll find a good family, people who will love her and take care of her, but it won't be enough. Every night she'll go to sleep and wish for her big brother. Because from what I can tell, Richard, you are the one who has taken care of her. You're the one who played with her, who fixed her up when she scraped a knee, who hugged her when she had a nightmare. You're the one she wants, Richard, and if you do this, you won't be there for her." Richard was shaking now, not even trying to hold his tears back. "So don't do this. Be there for Emily. Be her big brother. Be her hero."

That was the final card. Richard backed away, setting down the gun and raising his arms. Lucia moved towards him, kicking away the gun before handcuffing his hands behind his back. "It's just a precaution," she told him. He nodded.

Ninja appeared next to her, and Richard looked at him in surprise, though he said nothing. Ninja moved to help Red with untying and cuffing the parents before everyone headed outside.

Once they were outside, Team One came over to them and nodded. They freed everyone, and the rest of Team Five came out to join them. "Well done, all of you," Sergeant Parker said quietly. "That was an amazing job you did."

Constable Lane spoke next. "You all kept your cool and worked as a team. That is what we're trying to teach you, and you did it." He waited a moment, then smiled. "Nice job. Go ahead and change. You have the rest of the day off. No need to debrief. We'll work on that another day."

Wheels and Sharp high-fived each other as everyone else grinned. Together, they all turned around and headed towards the showers.

"Nice job, Sarge," Lucia said, watching as their team raced each other to the base.

"Thanks." He rubbed the back of his head. "You don't think I got to emotional about it? I mean, I know it was just an evaluation, but it felt like so much more."

"I think you did amazing, just like you're dad said." They were walking slowly to where their friends were.

"I just don't want them to think that I'm trying to… like I'm trying too hard, you know? But I don't want anyone to think that I became Sergeant just because of who my dad is. I don't know."

"What I can tell you, Dean, is that one day, this isn't going to be an evaluation anymore. One day, it's going to be real. And when it is, I hope you do exactly what you did back there. Anyone who listened to that would know that you didn't get to where you are by your father." He smiled. "Besides," she continued. "If it was based on who your father was, that would mean that Wheels should have been Team Leader."

He laughed, then looked towards the base. "Race you?" he offered. Unfortunately for him, she was already gone. Grinning, he raced after her.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

Later that night, Lucia was in her room. She was staring at some different tests she wanted to try. Red needed some work on stealth, Sarge and Whiz both needed work on hand-to-hand combat. Kyle and Sharp needed practice on strategic entry, and both Wheels and herself needed more practice with negotiations. She was going over some plans that allowed the team to practice it all at once. She was mostly leaning towards everyone switching roles for a day during practice, so they could all work on it at the same time. She would definitely have to run that by Sarge.

She glanced up in surprise when someone knocked on her door. Her brothers never knocked, so it had to be Dave or Mary. "Come in," she called.

Dave poked his head through the door. "Hey," he greeted. "Got a minute?"

She nodded, vaguely wondering what the triplets had done now. "It's not the boys, if that's what you're wondering," he assured her. "You've just been down here for awhile, and I figured you might be hungry."

Lucia grinned when she saw that he had brought down two cartons of Ben and Jerry's cookies and cream ice cream. It was her favorite, though she didn't know that Dave knew that. She tilted her head at him, silently asking the question.

He shrugged and smiled. "I was trying to remember, then finally gave up," he admitted sheepishly. "I finally just asked Justin. I knew he wouldn't say anything."

She raised an eyebrow at that, but gladly accepted the ice cream nonetheless, moving over her plans and motioning for him to sit down. "What's up?" she asked.

"Nothing much. I was actually gonna ask you that question."

She took a spoonful of ice cream, using it as an excuse not to say anything. She didn't know what he was playing at.

Dave was amazingly good at reading people, and he lifted an eyebrow. "I honestly just want to know how you're doing, Lucia. I hear you talking with your brothers, asking how their days were, but never once have I heard you say how your day was. Not even with Kyle. I just figured you might like someone to talk to."

"Everything's fine," she said.

"Good," he smiled. "So what are you doing that makes it fine?"

She smiled at him, a full out smile. No one had ever worded it quite like that. They mostly got upset when she answered with 'fine'. "I don't know," she finally said. "I guess I'm finally starting to feel like I belong here."

He slurped a large chunk of ice cream off his spoon as he debated on how to answer. "I'm happy you're feeling like that," he commented slowly.

"But you're worried how it will be when we finally go home?" she guessed. When he nodded, she sighed. "I don't know," she said, flopping back against her pillow, hand still clutching the ice cream. "Part of me wants to go home so badly, wants to go back to my friends and my work… and then part of me"

"Wants to stay here?" Dave guessed.

Lucia nodded miserably. Neither one spoke for a moment, until—"Does this make me a bad person?" she asked softly.

Dave stared at her in shock. Never, in all of the time that he had known her, had she sounded as unsure of herself as she did right now. "Why on earth would you think that?"

Lucia shrugged, glancing away. "It's just… They all think I'm dead or missing, Dave. I let them all think that the boys and I are dead." She shook her head. "He once told me that the only thing I was good for was bringing pain to people." She glanced up at him. "What if he was right? What if I'm only going to bring pain to everyone I meet?"

"Hey." He grabbed her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his. "Don't ever let anyone ever tell you that you're a bad person, Lucia. You are one of the bravest, goodest people I know. Don't ever let anyone tell you differently."

A moment of silence as Lucia soaked this in and then:

"Goodest isn't a word," she pointed out helpfully.

He shook his head. "Thank you," he responded drily. "Just when I thought we were having a good heart to heart…" She giggled, chucking a pillow at him. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so that's how it is, huh?" he asked mockingly, picking up the pillow threateningly. She rolled out of the way of the trajectory and grabbed another pillow, slamming it upside his head. He ducked, though, and returned the hit. They went on for about ten minutes, just having a pillow fight, when they finally decided to end.

Dave said goodnight and was almost to her door when he felt her throw her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered.

He hugged her back. "You're welcome."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope you all like this new chapter. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me**

Constable Lane entered his home, looking around and trying to see where his son was. Usually Clark was on him as soon as he entered through the door, asking questions about work. Sophie came from the hallway, greeting her husband. "Where's Clark?" he asked.

"Oh, he's at a sleepover," Sophie responded. "Lucia and Kyle's foster parents are allowing them to host a sleepover for the team at their house. All of Team Five are there."

He smiled. "So, we have the house to ourselves?"

She smiled back.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"All right, we have popcorn, unhealthy sodas, makings for ice cream sundaes, and plenty of candy," Mary announced.

A cheer went up from the surrounding teens. "Thank you Mary," was heard from various people.

"You're welcome," she smiled. She was about to say something else when the doorbell rang. Soon, Dave walked in, holding three pizzas aloft in his arms.

"Now, I know I didn't order these," he said playfully. "I was debating to eat them, but I didn't want to get on your bad side," he told Mary. She swatted at him.

Lucia stood up, relieving her foster dad of his burden. "But you were willing to get on mine?" she teased.

"You have a bad side?" he gasped, relinquishing the pizzas nonetheless. He looked around their basement, looking at all the food in there. "How exactly are you planning to eat all of this anyway?" he asked.

He was met with seven raised eyebrows. He raised his hands. "Okay, okay," he agreed. "Stupid question."

Both he and Mary left, after getting promises of relative quietness. "So," Sharp began, going to look at the movie rack. "Movie?"

"What kinds do you have?" Red asked the siblings eagerly.

Lucia looked at her brother, who had the list of movies they had memorized. "Action, adventure, kid, or romance?" he asked.

"We have romance?" Lucia crinkled her nose.

"Mary's."

"Ah."

"Action," Sharp and Wheels called out immediately.

"I don't know," Red objected. "I'm kinda feeling like I need a good laugh right now. Kid could be fun."

"How about we compromise?" Sarge suggested. He had gone over to the movie rack as well, and picked up four movies. "Spy Kids?"

Everyone looked at each other, then shrugged. Grinning, Sarge popped the first one in and leaned back on his elbows. "Before we start, though, I have a question," he said, looking at their two hosts.

"What's up?"

"How are you related to all of your brothers? Like honestly, what is the family situation here?" he asked.

Lucia shrugged. "Kyle and I are related," she said. "Our parents died when we were young. The triplets were dropped off one day at the orphanage, and no one could find out who their parents were. And Justin…" she trailed off.

"His father killed his mother," Kyle supplied softly. "We kind of all just drew together after awhile. We haven't been separated since." Sarge nodded and remained quiet. Everyone else took the cue not to say anything else about it. They were a family, and that was that.

Soon enough, they were halfway through the second and preparing ice cream sundaes. "You have a fridge and freezer down here?" Whiz asked, incredulous.

Lucia nodded. "We had two for some reason, and we decided to have one upstairs and one in the basement," she explained as she pulled out the vanilla ice cream. Kyle was pulling out the chocolate syrup, hot fudge, and whipped cream. Everyone else was crowding around the long table Mary and Dave had so thoughtfully set up. They hadn't wanted the teens to try and do their sundaes on the floor.

"Cool."

"Hey!" Lucia looked up from where she was scooping out ice cream to find Sarge's face covered in whipped cream. She didn't even have time to ask what happened when he retaliated at Wheels, spraying the bottled whipped cream in his face.

"Guys!" Lucia yelled, but it was no good. Sharp had decided to enter the fun, taking the sprinkles and pouring it on his boss' face. Sarge took the whipped cream to his sniper's face, trying to wipe the sprinkles off at the same time.

Almost everyone got involved after that, except the siblings. Kyle slid closer to his sister. "Think Mary and Dave will yell at us if we aren't a part of it?"

She didn't have time to answer. "What is going on here?" a voice yelled.

The commotion stopped, and guiltily, everyone turned to the stairs. Mary and Dave were standing there, furious. A small head was also watching, and Lucia internally groaned. If her team had woken Justin up, they would be in so much trouble. "Well?" Mary asked impatiently. When no one answered, she sighed. "I want all of you to clean this up right now," she commanded.

"Wait a minute," Kyle defended. "Lucia and I didn't do any of this."

"They're your team," Dave pointed out reasonably. "You can all share the blame."

Lucia looked down at her brother, only to find him gone.

"HEY!"

She whipped around, shocked to find Wheels completely covered in chocolate syrup. He was staring incredulously at her brother. Everyone was, in fact. Kyle just shrugged. "If we're going to have to clean up this mess, we might as well contribute to it," he told Lucia, who grinned. Without warning, she opened another whipped cream can and sprayed it at Red, who screamed. Suddenly, the whole fight was started again. Mary and Dave glanced at each other, then at Justin, and sighed. They had tried.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

Lucia watched as Red tried to sneak up on her brother, smiling when he moved out of the way of her attack just as she lashed out. Red was getting better, she knew, but Kyle was a hard person to sneak up on. Shaking her head, she turned back to the conversation at hand.

They were all at Wordy's house; Team One had invited Team Five to the barbeque as a way of saying good job from the second evaluation that happened just last week. Lucia and Kyle had been surprised to realize the officer lived only five minutes from their own home. She had stored this information away.

"So what do you think of the cadet program, Lucia?"

She was surprised at being addressed, though she didn't show it. "It's great," she replied to Officer Lane. "I'm really glad that Sarge and Wheels told me about it. Definitely a great way to spend the summer."

Ed started, then grinned. "You know, it's really disconcerting when you refer to Dean as 'Sarge'."

She shrugged. "And it's really disconcerting when you refer to Red as Danielle. But, alas, we all have our burdens to bear." Sergeant Parker, Officer Lane, and Sarge all just stared at her for a moment before Sarge starting cracking up.

"She has you there, sir," Sarge said. "We all have our own nicknames now, though no one but our team has called us by them, and you guys are the ones who work with us all day every day."

Officer Lane just looked at her. "You don't mind when I call you Lucia," he argued.

"That's because I still don't see the point in my nickname. What on earth do I have in common with a padowan from an animated cartoon series?"

"Ah, Snips, you know you secretly adore your new name. I bet you go and brag about it to your brothers every single night," Sarge said.

All she did in response was raise an eyebrow and pull a "what-on-earth-are-you-on" polite smiling face. He was about to say something further, but every member of Team One had his or her phone go off simultaneously. Sergeant Parker and Officer Lane pulled theirs out and checked the contents. "Sorry, guys," Sergeant Parker said. "Team Two needs some back-up on a hot call. We're going to have to cut this party short."

"Can we come, dad? We won't get in the way," Dean pleaded.

"No, guys. This is going to be very dangerous, and you are still unprepared for this. I'm sorry, but you can't come." And with that, Team One was gone.

"Did you want to stay? You're more than welcome to," offered Shelley, Wordy's sweet wife and mother of their three children: Lily, Claire, and Ally. Sophie Lane nodded in agreement.

Lucia was about to respond, but Wheels beat her to it. "Sorry, mom, Mrs. Wordsworth, but Sarge and Snips want us to do some more training. Today we're working on teamwork, and it's a huge part. We don't want to miss it." Sophie nodded understandingly.

"Have fun."

Lucia was still confused, but didn't show it as she let Wheels pull her away. "Training? We never scheduled any training for today."

"No," Sarge agreed, "but I just did."

"What if the rest of the team wanted to stay here?" Lucia asked mildly. She knew they would rather train, but it was still their day off.

"Well they could," Wheels said as he grinned mischievously, "or they could go to that hot call."

"No."

"Aw, come on, Snips, you know it would be awesome to watch."

"No, Sarge. Your father already told us we can't go there. Besides," she crossed her arms, "we don't even know where it is."

"No," Wheels agreed pleasantly, "we don't. But," he held up his cell phone, "we do know where Team One is heading." He grinned triumphantly.

Lucia stared at him in shock. "Please tell me you didn't put a tracker on your dad's car."

"I didn't," he said, offended. Lucia didn't even have time to breathe a sigh of relief. "I placed it on Spike and Sam's car. They're much cooler about this kind of stuff than dad is."

All she could do was stare before she rounded on Sarge. "You let him do this?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey, give me some credit. I had no idea what was going through that crazy mind of his. But I agree, Snips," he said softly. "Dad's right, we don't have real-life experience. What better way to get it than to watch one of the best teams in the city talk down a subject?"

She shook her head. "Sarge—"

"It'll be fun, Lu."

Lucia whipped her head around in shock. Kyle stood there, meeting her eye for eye. "We'll watch, get real learning experience, and not even be in danger. It'll be fun."

Her entire team surrounded her, all agreeing with Sarge and Wheels. Finally she threw her hands up in surrender, and a quiet cheer went up. How was she supposed to argue with her whole team?

FPFPFPFPFPFP

She knew she should have fought her team on this. It started off fine, sure. Mrs. Wordsworth had offered to let them use the family van to get there in one vehicle. They were able to get there without either Team One or Team Two knowing they were there. Whiz had handed them all some headsets. She knew they shouldn't be there, but she didn't fight them on it. And she should have.

"All right, what's the status?"

Team Five listened with rapt attention through their headsets as Sergeant Parker asked the question at Sergeant Cray.

"Multiple hostages, multiple subjects. It looks like it was supposed to be a quick in-and-out as a bank heist, but someone must have activated the hidden security switch, calling us here. We've been going on for about three hours with no luck, and they managed to capture Davis," Sergeant Cray reported.

Lucia and the rest of her team stilled. They didn't know him personally, but Henry Davis was still an SRU officer, and he had been captured.

"What happened?" as Parker, concerned.

"He and Long were trying to go around back, see if there was another entrance, another way to enter if we had to go in. Davis saw them coming and told Long to head back here, which he did, but Davis wasn't so lucky. He was taken."

"Is he alright?"

"See for yourself. A couple of bruises, but that's about the extent of the injury," Cray informed him.

They continued talking as Team Five listened in. Whiz had set it up so that not even Spike could tell there were other people listening in. They could also talk without being heard. It went on for a while before Cray finally said, "What do you think we should do, Sarge?"

They all listened expectantly as Parker finally said, "Try calling them back. They already know your voice, no need to get them spooked out by changing to a different person."

They all listened as he called, talked to the subject (getting nowhere), and analyzed the problem with Team One. It was going on for about thirty minutes.

Lucia loved this. This was nothing like what they did in practice, where they all knew that no one would really kill them. This, they had a person, a friend who was being held hostage along with many innocents, and one wrong word could get them all killed. It was a lot to take in. Glancing around, she knew her team felt the same way. They were looking at this with a whole new perspective.

Unfortunately, all good things had to end. And their listening in ended very badly.

They were still listening to Sergeant Cray's negotiating when the bank doors opened suddenly and everyone came rushing out. It was a jumbled mess, but they could all see Henry Davis head straight towards the command truck and his sergeant come out to greet them. "What happened, Davis?"

Davis tilted his head. "They left a few minutes ago. At first I thought you guys would come in, but when we were still waiting after a minute, I checked to make sure there weren't any booby traps on the doors or anything and I told the people they could leave. What's going on, Sarge?"

"Holy crap," Whiz breathed. "They rolled the tapes. Our teams never even knew they were gone, because the cameras showed they were still there. That is really impressive to do, considering they had two SRU teams watching them the whole time, and they had no idea if we would call back. That is awesome!"

Sarge and Lucia looked at him, ready to tell him off, but another voice cut in, making them freeze in terror.

"Thank you."

Lucia dared a look behind her and mentally yelled at herself for getting so careless. They should have made sure the doors were locked; they should have done many things. But that didn't matter now. The men with the guns did.

**Uh-oh… looks like they're in trouble. And I don't think Team One is going to be pleased…**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday; life got crazy. Hope you enjoy this.**

**Disclaimer: nothing you recognize belongs to me.**

They were all silent, having been moved from that van to a moving van with an empty back. The faces of Teams One and Two as their cadets were held as hostages was burned into Lucia's memory. They had been forced out of Wordy's van and into the other one, each man taking a teen with him. Team One had been furious and frightened, and Team Two had been confused. No one had known that they were there, and now they were being used as body shields. The van had peeled off, and Lucia was pretty sure the SRU teams didn't have time to get a tracker on it.

A thick rope bound all their wrists, and there was almost no way to get free of it. Fortunately, they all still had their headsets with them. One of the men was going around now, collecting them all. Thinking quickly and praying her plan would work, Lucia slipped off hers and moved it into Whiz's pocket, thankful he was sitting next to her. He switched it so that the other SRU teams could hear them, even if the fabric of the pocket would mask most of their talking. The man stopped in front of her.

"Where is yours?" he demanded.

"I don't have one," she answered calmly.

He slapped her forcefully, making her head snap to one side. "Everyone else has one," he said. "Where is yours?"

He forced her to stand up and started searching her pockets. "I honestly don't have one," she said, not stopping the small tremor of fear from entering her voice. "We only had six, so we were switching off with who would listen in. I don't have one right now."

He thrust her back in her seat, having not found anything, and moved on. She took her seat, sitting between her brother and Whiz, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. That relief was short-lived.

"What do we do with them?" one of the men asked his partner quietly. "There's no way we can take them back to base."

The other shrugged. "Kill them."

Every teen stared at each other in shock and terror, finally coming to terms that this wasn't practice, and they were going to die. "Guys," Lucia said finally. "Do you remember what I told you about guns in vans?"

She hadn't exactly worded it like that. Team Five had had a discussion once about what would happen if you were taken hostage. There were many debates about what they would do and the best and worst case scenarios before Lucia finally cut in. "If you are ever being taken anywhere as a hostage or kidnapping victim, pray that you are in the back of a van. The doors are easiest to open, you're not usually wearing seatbelts, and you can jump out before they come off their shock and start shooting at you."

They all had stared at her. "You would want us to jump out of a moving van?" Red finally had asked.

"I would want you to survive. If you know that they would have no problems shooting you, get out of there by any means necessary."

They all looked back at her now, and she knew her message had gotten through. Now just to get that back door open. Unfortunately, they had caught the attention of the bank robbers. "What did you tell them about guns in vans?" he asked.

"She told us to make sure we were the ones who had them," Kyle answered, his voice quiet and deadly. He, too, had felt the van slowing down slightly. Based on the noise outside, they guessed that they were coming up on a traffic light, and at a busy intersection. It was the perfect opportunity.

The man turned to answer back to him, but Kyle was already on his feet, lunging towards his opponent. He kicked, seeing as how his hands were tied behind his back, but the man dropped the gun and grabbed his foot, swinging him around and tossing him against the far side of the van.

The far side was the one with the doors. Lucia knew her brother was now unlocking the doors, and she jumped on the men that were coming towards him. As she expected, they threw her towards her brother, and she was able to push the doors open. "GO!" she screamed. The car had basically come to a halt; there was no better time than this.

Thankfully, her team didn't question her or even stop to show their fear. They just jumped out of the van, rolling as they hit the road, and jumping up and getting out of the way of the oncoming cars and the crazy men with guns. Kyle produced a knife he had taken off of the bank robbers and sliced them all free. Without anyone ever directly saying so, they all began running in the general direction they came from.

Whiz pulled out the headset from his pocket and handed it to Lucia, who looked at it for a moment. For the first time since joining this team, she was afraid of speaking with Team One. She looked at Sarge, who held out his hand in an offer to take the task. Surprising everyone on the team, she handed it over.

"Hello?" he asked.

He held the headset away from his head at the noise that came out of it. Waiting a minute, he placed it back again. "We're fine, dad. I'm pretty sure we're all going to be really bruised and battered, but no extra bullet holes are in us." He tried keeping his tone light, tried to ease the tension.

"Um, I'm not sure." He glanced at Lucia. "Any ideas where we are, Snips?"

She looked around. They were still running, so it was hard to focus on any one thing. "I have no idea. I think we were in the car for about ten minutes, so… three blocks away from the bank? I know we're heading in the right direction, but I don't know how long it will take to get back there."

Sarge relayed the information, then paused again. "Yeah. I see you." The rest of Team Five looked the way he was facing and saw the dark SUVs pull to the side of the road. "We're coming."

He took the headset off and glanced at his second. "What chances do you think there'll be that they'll be so excited to see us they won't care that we followed them against direct orders?"

She gave him a look but changed direction to head towards Team One. She could only guess that Team Two had finished up at the bank and started heading back to debrief. Team One had gotten out of the cars and were waiting for them. When they were all lined up, they were all surprised when Wordy spoke first.

"You took my van?"

"In our defense, sir, your wife offered to let us use it so that we could get to our team-building exercise in just one car instead of all our separate cars, so that we could save gas."

Wordy just stared at Lucia, as if not believing that she had the audacity to say something like that. Finally he managed, "Team-building exercise?" Lucia had to take a minute to think of a response, and in that minute, someone else took the blame.

"It was my idea, sir," Sarge said, stepping forward. "I thought that we could get real life experience watching and listening to you guys work without actually being in danger."

"And what do you think now?" Sergeant Parker asked his son.

To his credit, Sarge didn't back down. "Sir that could have turned out a multiple of ways. No one except those in the bank knew that the robbers had left, as the cameras were still rolling. They could have approached the van and killed you; they could have done something to innocent bystanders. There was no way of knowing what would have happened. And, even though we were all terrified, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I was glad they took us instead of taking other civilians or deciding they wanted to try and kill you. If anyone had to be used as human shields, I'm glad it was us."

Everyone else on Team Five nodded their agreement, standing firm behind their leader's decision. Team One seemed to have a silent conversation among themselves before Sergeant Parker finally sighed. "Let's get back. It's time you guys learned how to debrief."

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

The ride back had been in silence, and the debriefing had been even quieter. They got through what they needed to, and Team One sent them home with a stern reminder not to do anything like that again. None of Team Five had made any promises.

Despite being almost killed today, Lucia went to bed feeling good with her day. It had been a good day, she realized. Despite the situation, her team had performed admirably. They had followed orders without question, trusting her to make the right call. With that thought in her mind, she drifted off with a smile on her face.

Then the screaming started.


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, I just seem to love leaving you guys with the cliffhangers… hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize **

Lucia shot up, instantly on alert as the first scream pierced through the air. Her hand automatically shot out and grabbed her weapon, and then began heading quietly upstairs, her weapon in one hand and her phone in the other. Her thumb hovered over Sarge's phone number, knowing he would answer no matter what time of night it was.

When she got to the top of the basement steps, she cautiously opened the door with an extended hand, wary of whatever might be up there. Immediately bullets came flying towards the door at a high velocity, shattering the now-silent house with its loud noise. Her hand jerked, causing the phone to tumble down the stairs as she hid from the onslaught of bullets. She wasted not time to try and go after it, hoping someone in her neighborhood would have heard the shots and called the police.

She cautiously peered around the corner and saw only the triplets, who had come downstairs as soon as they had woken up. Kyle and Justin were nowhere to be seen, but there was a figure retreating.

"Stop!" Lucia called forcefully. She was running after whoever was trying to leave her house, hoping that her brothers were safe. She had caught up to him as he turned around. He swung the gun towards her, but she forced it down with one hand, swinging with her weapon in the other. A shot rang out, but the bullet had imbedded itself harmlessly in the floor. Lucia managed to knock her attacker's feet out from under him, and he fell to the ground.

Unfortunately, reinforcements had arrived for their attacker. Men in black masks, at least ten, came pouring into the house. Lucia leaped back as they pointed guns towards her, moving her three brothers out of harm's way. She forced them towards the walk-in pantry and slammed the door shut, effectively locking them in.

They lunged towards her, but she sidestepped, swinging her weapon through the air in a complicated dance, knocking out as many opponents as she could. She could feel a presence behind her, and turned the weapon on them. She was stopped as Kyle used the momentum of her swing to rotate himself through the air and attack the people behind her. Kyle was here. That just left Justin, Mary, and Dave that were missing.

They continued fighting, but she could see someone moving away from the fight and into the living room. She instantly knew they were heading towards her foster parents' room, and she could only guess that Mary and Dave were in there, protecting Justin. It only took one glance to her younger brother for him to understand as well. He nodded at her. "Go."

She went without hesitation, trusting her brother to take care of himself. Justin needed her help, and she would give it to him. She rushed after the man, launching herself at him, dropping her weapon in the process, and bringing him down with a flying tackle. They fought for a moment, and she felt a knife pierce through her left shoulder. She ignored the pain, grabbed the knife, and stabbed him in the chest. He stopped fighting shortly after that.

Her work was not done, however. She was grabbed from behind as another man tried to race past her to get into the room, but she quickly sagged, using her body weight to surprise the man holding. He loosened his hold for just a second, but that second was all she needed to snag her arms around his neck and pull, using her hip to help thrust him over her body and onto the floor below, stunning him for a moment. She kicked him in the head, effectively knocking him unconscious, and went after the second man.

She knocked him off his feet with a flying tackle, but he pulled a knife and predictably tried to stab her. She easily blocked the attack and slammed his head against the door. She had already figured out that these people were here not to kill but to grab someone. And that meant only one thing.

She continued exchanging blows with the would-be kidnapper, but he was no match for her. He was soon unconscious. She leapt up and grabbed her weapon, going to see if Kyle needed any help.

Kyle was taking care of himself, so Lucia stood in front of her foster parents' room and prepared herself. Soon enough, more people entered the living room, aiming to get into the room that she was guarding. She smirked. They honestly believed that she posed no threat. She twirled her weapon in her hand, readying herself. Then she lunged towards them.

It was quick. They were not expecting the deadliness, the ferocity that came with every precise strike she lashed out. Soon, they were all on the ground, and she was back at the door, guarding the people behind it.

Kyle and triplets came to join her shortly, and she knew that it was over. She relaxed her guard marginally, looking Kyle over. He had some bruises and scrapes, but it didn't seem like anything was broken or fractured.

It was silent for a few minutes before—"We could've helped."

Lucia shook her head. "It wasn't a good idea."

Ben looked up at her, not angry, but curious. "Why?"

Instead of Lucia answering, she indicated for them to listen. Sirens blared, getting louder and louder as they headed towards their house.

"You called the cops?" Nick asked, incredulous.

Lucia shook her head, putting her weapon away. "No. But the neighbors would've heard the gunfire and called the cops. Kyle and I are on the cadet program, the SRU already know we can handle ourselves. They won't be expecting this," she indicated around her, "but it will be more believable than fifteen year olds, untrained in their eyes, taking out men with guns."

The door behind her opened, and Dave poked his head out, gun in hand. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

Lucia nodded affirmative. "You guys?"

He opened the door fully, allowing them to see Mary and Justin, the former also equipped with a gun. "We're all okay."

"Good. You might want to put away the guns, though," Lucia advised. "We can't have people knowing our secret now. We don't need more problems."

Dave and Mary nodded, putting away their weapons. They had barely closed the door that hid the safe before the door burst down.

"SRU!" they heard someone yell. "Drop your weapons and place your hands on your head now!"

Kyle smirked at his sister as they raised their hands. She responded by rolling her eyes. "What's up, Officer Sabine?"

**For those of you who are wondering, no, Lucia didn't kill that man. I'm going with shock and blood loss preventing him from getting up. Lucia isn't a killer, nor does she want to be. Anyway, please leave reviews! I absolutely adore them!**


	8. Chapter 8

**It's snowing… Come on Michigan, its not even Thanksgiving yet. And the worse part is that when it snows in my city, the drivers get all nervous and believe that they have to go as slow as possible so that they don't crash into anything. Guys… it's barely even a centimeter on the grass, there's no snow or ice on the road… drive the speed limit! Some of us have classes to get to.**

**Anyway, sorry for my ranting. I own nothing you recognize.**

Statements had been taken, stories believed. Lucia had covered up her shoulder and arm with a jacket that Dave had loaned her. "What do you think they wanted?" Officer Donna Sabine asked as she watched the cops take away the men.

Lucia shrugged. "Who knows? Money, maybe? We don't have that much here, but Mary has some really nice diamond necklaces that are probably pretty expensive."

Donna raised her eyebrows. "It doesn't take twelve men to rob a house, Cadet Lucia."

Lucia knew she had put the Cadet in there to try and intimidate her. Donna obviously knew there was more to the story and was trying to get Lucia to admit that there was something else going on. However, Lucia merely shrugged again, this time a little angrier.

"How should I know what they wanted, Officer? All I knew that my family was in danger and I had to protect them. Kyle and I have training, so we hid our brothers and defended them." No need to mention that they had more training than what the SRU offered. "We knew we could protect them. So that's what we did."

Officer Sabine looked at her for a while, scrutinizing, trying to see if she was telling the truth. "Why didn't you call the police?" she asked.

However, Lucia looked calmly into her eyes. "My phone fell down the stairs, and I didn't want to waste time to go and get it when I figured the neighbors would hear and call you." Finally, Officer Sabine nodded. She left Lucia, and Lucia went to kneel down beside her youngest brother. "You okay?" she whispered softly.

Justin looked up at her, tears pooling in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered tearfully. "It's all my fault."

Lucia scooped him up, wrapping the eight-year-old in a tight hug. "It's not your fault," she whispered fiercely. "None of this is your fault."

"But—"

"No," she interrupted him. "Justin, look at me." He did as she asked, staring straight into her eyes. "That man is the only one to blame," she said softly, knowing they couldn't let anyone else overhear. "Him and him alone. It's not your fault." He nodded, clearly not believing her, but trusting her nonetheless. That was all she could ask for.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

Team Three left shortly after, with assurances from Lucia, Kyle, Mary, and David that they would be fine, and that no, they didn't think anyone else would come after the police had already showed they had an amazing response time. Finally, the family was left alone, and the two cadets glanced at the two adults. "Movie night?" Dave suggested.

Lucia and Kyle exchanged a glance a shrugged. They knew no one would be getting anymore sleep tonight, so why not do something that would get their minds off of it? "Sure," Lucia agreed. "You guys pick out a movie," she said to Mary and Kyle. She then looked to Dave. "Wanna go and see what's up with our security system?"

He nodded and they set off. Lucia stood by as Dave examined the box. "It should be working just fine," he muttered. "Nothing's been cut, but something seems to be messing with the system. It's not functioning."

"Signal blocker?" she suggested.

He gave her an appraising look, and then nodded. "Possibly. Let's go check around the house. They would've had to put it outside to get in without it tripping anything." They only had to take a few steps outside when Lucia saw that something wasn't right.

"Look." She pointed towards the tree house. "A branch is shifted, broken." Without another word she scaled the tree and looked into the house. "Yeah," she yelled. "There's something here." She grabbed it and jumped to the ground, rolling as she hit the ground to absorb the impact. They had no steps to get into the tree house. All the kids could easily scale the tree, and Dave and Mary respected that the kids needed a space to go that no one else could get to. "Someone must've either climbed up and broke the branch, or tossed this up and broken the branch." She handed the signal jammer to Dave, who turned it off.

"This looks nothing like a regular jammer," he muttered, more to himself than Lucia. "I'll see if I can find out who made it. Maybe then we'll be able to find him."

Lucia nodded, and they didn't need to say another word. They went inside, made sure the security system was working properly, and went to watch _Brave_ with their family. John insisted on looking at her to bandage her up, and Lucia couldn't argue with him. Who needed to go to a hospital when her brother was perfectly capable of helping her?

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"Hey, Snips!"

Lucia internally groaned as she heard Sarge call her name. She just knew that he knew about the hot call to her house, and now was dying to ask her all about. Bracing herself, she turned, pulling on her trademark smile as she faced her boss. "What's up, Sarge?" she asked brightly.

Dean was a smart kid, incredibly intuitive for someone his age. So when he saw his second-in-command turn to face him, he could see past the smile, he could see the way she was dreading to talk to him. So, thinking quickly, he improvised. He knew that she did not want to talk to him about the hot call that happened at her house, so he spoke about something else on his mind. "We need a plan for our final evaluation. I was hoping you might have some ideas for practice that we can put the team through?"

The smile that lit up his friend's face was well worth not knowing what had happened last night. "Of course," she grinned. "I've been thinking on that. First, though, let's do our workout. I'll fill you in when we start heading over."

"Great," he smiled back.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

The workout went relatively well. Kyle had already been in their working on the punching bag when they entered. None of her team asked her any questions about the hot call. Either they didn't know, or Kyle had deterred any ideas of trying to ask their team leader. Lucia was betting on the latter. Either way, though, Kyle's intensity on the punching bag was enough to make anyone think twice about asking a possible personal question.

Lucia decided to run on the treadmill instead of trying to spar like she normally did. Her shoulder was still a bit sore, and she didn't want to overwork it so much that it didn't heal properly. The entire time, she was thinking of plans for their final evaluation.

Later that day, Lucia and Sarge were running drills for the evaluation with Team One. They decided to use Lucia's idea to switch roles.

Kyle was acting as Team Leader, and Wheels was acting as lead negotiator with Lucia as his second. Red was acting in Kyle's normal role, and Whiz was acting as Sierra. Both Sharp and Sarge were on less lethal entry.

This time, Team One had set it up to simulate a bank robbery. The simulation went very slowly, with Wheels successfully talking Officer Braddock and Scarlatti, who were acting as the robbers, down within forty-five minutes. Everyone had done well, though they all agreed they preferred their normal roles. But everyone had done what they needed to get done.

It was coming close to seven p.m. by the time they were done with training, and no team had had any hot calls. It was Friday, and so they all had tomorrow off. She glanced towards her team, raising an eyebrow. "You all thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.

"Extra practice tomorrow?" Red asked hopefully.

Lucia smiled at her. Red always wanted to come in to practice, even after long days of work the day before. She just loved doing this. "If you guys all want to," she said. She glanced at Kyle, and he nodded. The triplets were going to a professional baseball game tomorrow, and Justin was going over to a friend's. He was going to the Wordsworths, actually. They had met at another friend's birthday party and had immediately hit it off with Ally and Claire, the two younger girls. Ally was seven and Claire was nine, with Lily the oldest at ten. All of them adored Lucia's youngest brother.

Everyone around her nodded and Sarge clapped his hands. "Alright, sweet," he said. "See you guys all tomorrow, at what, 9?" Everyone nodded.

They started taking off, and Sergeant Parker and Officer Lane headed towards their younger counterparts. Sergeant Parker was grinning. "What's up?" Sarge asked, a bit wary.

"Well," his father said, looking at his second-in-command. "There is a Sergeant/Team Leader meeting tomorrow with Commander Holleran."

"Yeah?" Sarge asked. Both he and Lucia knew of this.

"We were wondering how you guys would feel about accompanying us to it. We know it's your day off, but we figured you guys might want to check it out."

Sarge and Lucia looked at each other, astounded. They had never been asked to attend one of these meetings. They happened every second Saturday of the month, and both cadets had debated trying to spy on them before, but decided against it in the end. "That would be amazing!" Sarge exclaimed. "Can we really?"

"We wouldn't ask you if you weren't allowed," Constable Lane pointed out reasonably.

"Yes!" they cried out together.

"Good," Sergeant Parker smiled. "Be here at 10 a.m. sharp."

The two teens bolted before either man could change their minds.

**So… Just in case you guys were wondering, time does skip around a lot. Especially in the beginning chapters. Sorry about that. Tomorrow, it's going to get to the last evaluation, though it's not in the way anyone was expecting. Please review and tell me what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**IMPORTANT: This chapter includes two minor character deaths, so be prepared. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please please please review!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me**

The night before had been good, too good, Lucia thought as she headed in with Kyle. No one had tried to attack them the night before, causing the two to be even more on edge than they normally were. Why wasn't he attacking? This just left a bad feeling in both of them.

Kyle opened the door and held it open as his sister passed through. It was 8:50, ten minutes before the rest of their team was supposed to be there. It looked like Team Three was on call for today, they noted as they said a brief hello to Officer Sabine.

Ten minutes later, the rest of Team Five were in the warm-up room. Kyle was on the bike, Sarge and Whiz were sparring, Lucia was by Red on the weights, Sharp was on the treadmill, and Wheels was working on the punching bag. They were about halfway through their workout when "Hot Call. Team Three, gear up. Hot call," Winnie called through the intercom.

A bit later, Sergeant Parker and Officer Lane came in. "You guys ready?" they asked their counterparts.

"Yup!" Lucia beamed. She and her boss followed the two SRU members. They were talking about their final evaluation when they reached the conference room. Sergeant Parker and Officer Lane went in first; the two cadets following close behind.

"Um," Commander Holleran cleared his throat. "I don't think that this meeting is the best one for the cadets to come to," he said. "I think it would be best if you left," he told them.

Sarge was about to protest, but Lucia grabbed his arm. She didn't know what was going on, but she could see the fear on his face as clear as day. She could also see the nervousness on every other Sergeant and Team Leader in the room. "They're right, Sarge. We should leave and let them be." She began pulling him backwards out of the room, until a voice stopped her cold.

"Obeying orders?" Lucia let go of Sarge's arm and spun around, only to be shoved harshly backwards.

"Snips!" Sarge called. She stumbled, but remained on her feet. When she looked up, Sarge was frozen to the spot as a gun was pressed into his head.

"Grivans," she growled.

Jason Grivans smiled sadistically at her, pressing the gun deeper into her boss' head. "Since when do you obey orders?" he sneered.

Lucia shrugged. "Since the people giving them actually have brains," she retorted. She watched as Sergeant Parker and Constable Lane were forced into chairs, wrists cuffed to the armrests. All of the Sergeants and Team Leaders were cuffed to chairs, she now noticed. She knew that Sergeant Parker would not be happy with the way she was speaking to Grivans, but that man was not one you could just negotiate with.

He frowned. "Every human has a brain, Lucia. We wouldn't be able to function without it."

Lucia rolled her eyes. "Let him go, Grivans."

He smirked. "I don't think so," he said, jerking Sarge closer to him. "Who is he, Lu?" Lucia bristled at the nickname. "Is he your boyfriend?" He mock frowned. "Did you replace Roger so quickly, Lucia? He still mourns for you, you know."

"Enough, Grivans," she said sharply. "Tell me what you want." She knew what he wanted, but she knew he wanted her to ask. All around her, she could see the SRU members frowning at the last remark Grivans made.

Her mind was whirring on the inside. Team Three was on call for today, but they were at… "You," she realized. Grivans smirked. "You hired some goons to rob something and take hostages, didn't you? You set up the hot call so that no one would be able to help us." She was discreetly trying to text for help while she was talking.

"Yup!" he crowed, jerking Sarge, whose eyes narrowed in slight pain. "And we sent off a signal jammer. This place is in full lockdown, little girl. No one gets in or out, no one can send off or receive any text or calls."

Lucia internally sighed. Of course he had a signal jammer. "What. Do. You. Want." She grounded out.

"You know exactly what I want, Macculloh," he said joyfully. "And you're going to help me." Before Lucia could say anything to contradict him, a couple of Grivans' men wheeled in a large TV. When they turned it on, Lucia's breath caught. Dave and Mary's faces filled the screen. "I think you're going to want to help me. You see," he went on conversationally, "I went by your house again today. Knew you'd be out," he continued. "Thought I could find my son. Only to find that he's out today. And these two fine people," he gestured with the gun towards the screen, "don't seem to know where he is. Any ideas?"

Lucia briefly closed her eyes. She couldn't let this madman take Justin. She just couldn't. "No," she whispered.

She jumped as a gunshot sounded. Glancing up, she saw Mary lying on the ground, blood pooling out of the bullets in her forehead. She choked out a sob, trying to suppress it. "Are you certain you don't know where my son is?" Grivans said, voice quiet and deadly.

"Lucia." Her head snapped up to look her remaining guardian. "You're a good kid, Lu," he said. A tear leaked out of her eye, remembering the conversation they had a while ago. She began shaking her head, already knowing what Dave was going to say. "You're a good kid, Lucia," he said, knowing she had to hear this. "Don't ever let anyone tell you differently, kiddo. You know what you have to do."

Grivans chuckled, watching as unwanted tears trickled down her face. "Yes, Lucia," he cooed. "You know what you have to do. Tell me where my son is and everyone here can go home in one piece."

But Lucia was backing away from the screen, eyes locked with Dave. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry." He kept his eyes locked with hers. "I don't know where he is," she said softly, strongly. "And he's not your son. Not anymore."

She spun around, grabbing Sarge by the arm and running out of the room. She couldn't stop the sobs that escaped her as the gunshots sounded behind her.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"Snips! Sarge!" They heard someone hiss as they sped through the SRU headquarters. Lucia yanked Sarge back by his arm and pulled him towards the doorway. They went in and quickly shut the door behind them. Everyone held their breath as a few moments later, feet pounded past the room.

After it quieted, Lucia and Sarge looked around the locker room. The rest of their team was there; worry shining brightly in their eyes as they gazed at their leaders. "What was that, guys? Is someone hurt?" Wheels asked anxiously. Lucia knew he was worried about his father.

Sarge glanced at his second, and then looked for Kyle. "Ninja," he began softly.

"Grivans," he whispered. "Grivans is here." He looked at his sister. "What did he _do_?" he whispered in an agonized tone.

Lucia and Kyle were close, so close that they didn't even need to speak to know what they wanted to say to each other. This was one of those moments. Kyle knew exactly what had happened. "No," he whispered. Tear pooled in his eyes, and he was shaking his head, willing it not to be true. "No."

Lucia nodded, and watched unhappily as steel crashed into his eyes. He was shutting down. Her brother was turning into the Ninja he was so aptly named after. This was the brother she dreaded to see, the one who came out when the family was in trouble, the brother who would do whatever was necessary.

"What happened?" Wheels asked in confusion.

Sarge sighed unhappily. He knew that Snips and Ninja wouldn't want to say this. "Mary and Dave are dead," he said softly. Everyone gasped. Everyone knew Mary and Dave; they had hosted multiple team sleepovers. "That's not all," Sarge added despairingly. "This Grivans guy has the Commander and all Sergeants and Team Leaders hostage, as well as us on lockdown. There's no way to contact anyone, no way to try and get help. And all the doors are locked. No one gets in or out."

"What do we do?" Red asked.

Lucia looked up, her own eyes hard. "What we were trained to do," she answered. "Get the hostages out safely."

"How?" Sharp asked. "We are surrounded, Snips. They have multiple people on their side. How are we supposed to get them out safely?"

There was no malice in his tone, no disbelief. He fully believed that his team could do this, if they had the right plan. "As a team," Lucia answered.

"Wait," Sarge interrupted. "I agree, we have to stop them, but I think we need to know what we're dealing with. Who is this guy? Is he really Justin's dad?"

"NO," Kyle snapped forcefully. "He might be Justin's biological father, but that psychopath is no dad."

"So he's coming after you to try and get Justin back?" there was disbelief in Red's voice. "He's killing people to get to him?"

"It's not just to get to Justin," Lucia said, shaking her head.

Kyle nodded, speaking softly. "It's to kill us."

"Why?" The question was filled with so much fear.

"Because I saw him murder someone," Kyle whispered.

**Dun Dun Dunnn!**

**Ooh, this is horrible. But unfortunately, this isn't the worst thing that Lucia and the team are going to have to face. Grivans is a smart psychopath, and he wants to watch Lucia crumble. So he's going to bring a friend… Will she be able to handle it? Please pleas please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Geez, two stories in one day! Aren't you guys feeling lucky? Well, I just knew you were dying to know what Kyle meant in the last chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me.**

"What?" Sarge exclaimed. Lucia and Kyle shushed him. "You saw him murder someone?"

Kyle shook his head. "Now is not the time," he whispered forcefully. He glanced at his sister. "We know we should've told you sooner, but… well, we weren't actually planning on telling you this at all."

"Did Dave and Mary…?"

"Yeah," Lucia nodded. "They would have to, they're CIA. Or…" she struggled for just a bit. "They were."

"Dave and Mary are CIA?" Red squeaked.

Kyle shook his head again. Lucia knew this was quickly frustrating him. "Kyle," she said warningly, knowing he was close to losing his cool.

"We need to take him down," her brother hissed. "We have to move now, Lu."

"We will," she said calmly, too calmly. She had no idea why she wasn't freaking out more right now. She had watched her foster parents die, for Pete's sake. "But we need to put our heads together and make a plan."

Kyle frowned in confusion. "We never make plans," he protested. "We just…do."

"That was before we had a team."

Kyle opened his mouth, and then closed it, the frown becoming more pronounced. Lucia quickly realized that he hadn't planned on having Team Five with them; he had just assumed that it would be them against Grivans. She vaguely wondered when their roles had reversed. Usually it was Lucia who was reluctant to trust others, and Kyle who was sometimes too trusting. "We have a team now, bud," she said softly. "And they're here to help. This isn't just us anymore."

"She's right, man," Wheels agreed. "Whoever this psychopath is, he became a problem for all of us, not just you and Snips. We're all going to take him down." All around him, the rest of the team nodded.

Sarge turned to his second. "I really hope you have a plan," he said. She grinned. "Of course you do," he grumbled, but he was hopeful. Snips usually had really good plans.

She was about to speak when a voice sounded over the intercom. "Hello, Lucia," someone said.

Sarge frowned. This voice didn't belong to Grivans. Grivans' voice was deep, but also had a slight accent. This voice was light and lyrical, with a thick New York accent. He turned to the eighteen-year-old to see if she knew who it was, only to find her frozen. Ninja had run to his sister's side as soon as the voice had sounded, and he was holding her gently by the shoulders. "Shake it off, sis," he pleaded. "He can't hurt you. Please."

"What is going on?" Sarge and the rest of the team were terrified. Not only had someone broken into the headquarters for the SRU, but also now not just one, but two people seemed to know and want something from Snips. And Snips, fearless Snips, was terrified of at least one of them: the one that just talked over the intercom.

"It's good to talk to you," the voice continued pleasantly. "It would be even better to see you, kiddo."

"Kiddo?" Wheels asked in surprise. He turned to his TL, but she was still frozen, fear etched in her face. "Ninja, is this your da—father?" he amended, knowing how upset Ninja had been when Sarge had called Grivans Justin's dad.

"No," Ninja responded tersely. "It was Lu's foster father when she was younger—we didn't know each other then. We were separated after our parents died, I ended up in an orphanage, and Lu ended up in the foster care system. She went through about nine in one year, ending up with Jake when she turned five—he and his wife, Lola. They were…" he seemed to be searching for the right term. "Abusive," he decided finally.

"How abusive?" Red asked shakily.

Kyle didn't answer. Lucia was still frozen. He sighed. "Everyone back up but Sharp," he ordered. Sharp came closer as everyone complied. "I need you to attack me," he instructed his friend. "We need to get Snips to snap out of this."

Thankfully, Sharp didn't ask any questions. He just threw a punch at his friend's head, not in the least surprised when a hand snapped out to block it. He was surprised at the owner, however. Snips was holding his fist in her hand, eyes narrowed and focused. "Thanks," she told her brother and friend. She released Sharp. "This just got way more complicated," she informed the rest of her team. "With Jake and Grivans' pairing up, I don't know how reliable I'll be." Thankfully, the voice had stopped talking.

"What did he do to you?" Red asked softly.

"Something I'd rather not talk about," Lucia snapped back. Her face softened as Red flinched back, unused to Lucia speaking to her like that. She shook her head. "Sorry, Red," she apologized, "but it's something that I've tried to put behind me. And like I said, this just got way more complicated."

"The murder I witnessed was a gang murder," Kyle explained. He kept one eye on his sister, who was moving towards her locker. "A really big gang. Mary and Dave had been trying to take them down for a while, but never had anything concrete. Lucia and I were…" he was searching for the right word again, "interns at the New York City police department. We would sometimes help out with cases."

"As kids?" Wheels asked, shocked.

"We were good at what we did," Lucia responded.

"Anyway," Kyle took up the story. "Lu and I were out with another detective, working another lead. Lu and Detective Pierce were talking when I saw something move. And being the stupid idiot that I was," the rest of his team looked at him in surprise when they heard the venom in his voice, "I checked it out by myself. I never considered calling for them." He shook his head in shame. "And I almost got us all killed."

"No you didn't," Lucia disagreed. "You nearly got us killed. Cal was perfectly safe."

"Why was Cal perfectly safe?" Whiz asked. Lucia had opened her locker and taken out her home bag. She pulled out three small things, two of which she tossed to Kyle, who caught them easily. He pocketed it and continued before anyone could ask what it was.

"Lucia heard the people yelling after they caught me and raced to rescue me. Cal was smart and calling for help first. He didn't see anything, but Lu and I did. We witnessed the gang, _Les Licornes, _committing a crime, a murder of a high official. So we were screwed. They put a bounty on our heads and we had to disappear. Dave and Mary, who were working the case, offered to take care of us and we moved here."

"Les licornes?" Red asked, at the same time Sharp said, "Unicorns? They named their gang The Unicorns?"

Lucia shrugged. "Not a clue why," she said. "But, Grivans and Jake are both part of the gang. Grivans is the one who did the murder, and Jake…" she hesitated. "He's the arms dealer," she finally said. "He supplies all the weapons."

"And he was your foster father?" Wheels asked.

"Yeah. Now, if we're done visiting the past," she said firmly, "I have a few ideas on how to stop these pyschos. But first, we're going to need to get equipped."

**Well, I'm just gonna keep you guys wondering… please review and tell me what you think! I just love reviews!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, so just letting you guys in on something: I'm not sure if this would actually ever happen, but for the purpose of this story the SRU can go into lock-down mode, making it so that no one gets in or out. Everything is shut down, so that isn't good… Anyway, it's just to make sure that only Team Five is the only team that can actually do anything.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me**

"Ninja, status," Sarge ordered.

"Almost there," Ninja replied softly. He crept quietly through the ventilation system, pausing as he went over the conference room. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a camera, placing it. "Whiz?" he breathed.

"Move it more towards the right," Whiz directed quietly. "Perfect."

Ninja began moving back, careful not to make any noise. Jake and Grivans had been smart and covered the camera that was in the conference room, so the team had needed to set up their own visual.

By the time he got back to their meeting place, Sharp and Wheels had also returned. They had gone to the gun cage to pick up weapons and shields. Red and Snips were also returning from picking up everyone's vests. Whiz was on his computer with Sarge reading over his shoulder.

Everyone had an earpiece in their ear, one of the ones that Whiz had messed with earlier, during the bank robbery that they all listened in to. Sergeant Parker had confiscated them, but Whiz had figured out where he had put them and grabbed them, passing them out to each of the cadets.

"All right," Sarge whispered to his team. They gathered around in a semi-circle around their two leaders. "Whiz?"

"I have control of the computers," their tech reported. "We can see what's going on, but I've erased us from the screen. They won't know where we are at all."

Sharp tilted his head. "Something tells me I don't want to know how you learned to do that," he said slowly. Whiz just grinned in reply.

"Everyone have weapons and their vests?" Sarge asked. He frowned at his second and Ninja. "You two don't have weapons," he pointed out.

"We do," Ninja replied. He pulled out the two things his sister had tossed him earlier. When he flicked them open, two double edge knives popped out.

"Where did you get that?" Sharp breathed. Being their weapons expert, he adored all forms of weapons.

"Lu got it for me for my birthday two years ago," Ninja explained.

"It looks brand new." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lucia and Kyle had to grin at the clear longing in Sharp's eyes.

Lucia scoffed. "Like Kyle would let it look anything less than brand new."

Kyle shrugged. "When it looks new, it acts new," he pointed out. "Great weapon."

"So what do you have?" Sharp asked his Team Leader, who raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me it's not another knife."

She shook her head and pulled something out. It was what looked like a pen, but when she smacked it over her wrist, it spun around and turned into a full staff. "Whoa," Sharp breathed. "I didn't know people actually used these. I thought they were just for show."

Lucia nodded. "Most are," she agreed. "But I've found that when attacked by multiple people, staffs are the best." She rolled her eyes at her brother's quiet snort. "I like it," she defended. "Besides, you're the one who asked the triplets to make it."

"Your brothers made this?" Sharp exclaimed. Lucia and Kyle nodded.

"As fascinating as this all is," Sarge interrupted, "now is not the time for this." Though he knew why Snips and Ninja had waited to show their weapons like this. The fun banter that had just been passed around, however brief, had lightened the mood, made everyone feel less on edge. He sent a silent thank you to the siblings, who gave back the barest hint of a nod. "Snips?" he asked.

The way everyone was staring at her made her feel like it was an evaluation all over again. And in a way, it was. This time, though, the stakes were higher. She nodded and grinned. "Whiz, do you have access to the intercom?" He nodded. "We're going to want music. Not blasting super loudly, but loud enough that it would mask whatever sounds we're going to be making. Sarge," she turned to her boss. "As much as I want to believe that there is not negotiating with these guys, that will be our best hope. Try and talk them down. Even if you can't succeed with them, you might turn some of their soldiers to our side." He nodded. "Wheels," she turned to him. "Right now, I need you on guard duty, protecting Whiz and Sarge." Thankfully, he didn't protest. He knew how important guarding Whiz and Sarge was, and he would do it gladly. "Red, I want you looking for a back way into that conference room. Run over blueprints and tear it apart. Sharp," she turned to the sniper, "See if you can find a vantage point. You have to stay in the building," she warned, "but see if you can find some nook or cranny to hide in."

"This is all well and good," Wheels interrupted, "but they outnumber us. What do we do for that?" He wasn't hostile, just pointing out a fact. They had all worked together for the past three months; they were used to trying to point out flaws in other's plans.

Lucia grinned. "If you're outnumbered, just thin out the other side. Ninja and I are going to work on that idea. Don't worry," she added, seeing the concern on Sarge's face. "We'll be careful, and we don't kill people for the fun of it. There's going to be some people unconscious and stuffed in closets, but no dead bodies."

Almost everyone started at that. "Guys," she said seriously, "this isn't like practice. These people are not SRU teams that are evaluating us. These people won't hesitate to kill us. I'm not saying we're going to kill people back," she added quickly. "I'm just saying be prepared. This is the real deal." They all nodded, a determined look overtaking each of the faces of fear. "Remember, music," she told Whiz.

"What kind do you want?" the tech grinned, and Lucia couldn't help but grin back.

"Surprise me."

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

"Whiz, where exactly are you getting this music?" Red said through the earpiece.

_Oh I just can't wait to be king,_ blasted through the intercom. Whiz was grinning, though most of the cadets couldn't see. "Pandora," he said innocently.

"And you picked Disney?" the redhead asked.

"Why not? It's awesome."

Lucia didn't have time to butt into the conversation, because she was in the middle of taking down three rather burly men. "You." She lashed a foot out at one of the men's head. "Had better." She sprung up from the floor, planting her staff firmly on the floor as she spun and kicked one of the men in the nose, affectively breaking it. "Stay down." She finished by jumping up on the last guy's shoulders, using her added body weight to flip him over and knocking him out as his head bounced against the hard floor.

"You okay, Snips?" Wheels asked.

"Yeah. Sarge started yet?" She began zip-tying the three men's wrists together before stuffing them in the closet. It took some work, but she finally managed to stand them all up and close the door on them.

"Yeah," Wheels whispered. He looked at his long-time friend. "I don't think it's going very well." He knew his friend, knew the way his forehead wrinkled slightly when he was frustrated, just like it was doing now. "These guys don't seem like the negotiating type, and I don't think they're enjoying the music, either."

Lucia shrugged, though she knew her friend couldn't see her. "I just told Whiz we needed music, I never said what kind of music it had to be." She couldn't suppress a smile as _I'll make a man out of you_ came on next. It just kind of seemed fitting. "Do you guys now how many guys there are in all?" she asked. She darted behind the front counter as Whiz directed, ducking low to avoid being seen by the men passing her by.

"I think I counted about thirty," Whiz reported. Lucia rolled her eyes as she leaped up and over the counter; lashing out in a flurry of motions with her staff, she fought for only the briefest of two minutes before the two men laid down at her feet, unconscious. "Epic," was heard in her ear. She smirked.

"Status, Ninja?" she asked.

"I think I've taken down maybe nine or ten," he reported. "They just keep on coming." She could hear the frustration in his voice.

"Well, Whiz says there's about thirty guys. You've taken out roughly ten; I've taken out seven. So only thirteen more to go."

"Incoming," Whiz reported. "Wheels, get ready. I think that these guys are heading straight for us."

"I'm coming," Lucia responded automatically.

Ninja sighed. "I wish I could, but I just got company. Wouldn't want to be a rude host."

"Good luck," Lucia said.

Lucia raced towards the back room where her three teammates were. "Red, Sharp, report?" she demanded as she ran.

"Still searching," came Sharp's short reply. "I might've found a place, but it's tricky. I'll keep you updated."

"Red?"

"Hang on." A moment passed. "Okay. So, there is obviously access through the front door and the ventilation system," the girl reported. "I'm checking out a possible other entry right now."

"Be careful."

"Always, Snips."

Lucia didn't have time to respond as she launched herself at a man who was trying to sneak up behind Whiz. The tech cried out in surprise as the two people bundled past him, each jabbing and kicking at each other. The man had pinned her down, and though she wiggled, he held her wrists down against the ground. He looked like he was debating how to knock her out or kill her when he collapsed. Lucia shoved him off of her with the help of Whiz, who held a chair in his hands. She grinned at him, and he smiled shakily back in response. "Never knocked someone out with a chair before," he admitted.

She shrugged. "First time for everything." She looked at Wheels. "You good?"

He nodded, and Sarge slammed the phone on the table. "How did you put up with him?" he raged. "Every single thing I say, he… he—"

"Twists it into something else," Lucia supplied. "Talking with Jake?" Sarge nodded. "Yeah, I gave up word battles with him a long time ago. He was always good at that, though I didn't mind. Better that than—" She cut herself off, not wanting her team to know what he put her through when he was really mad.

Thankfully, no one sent her any looks of pity or sympathy. "How am I supposed to talk him down?" Sarge sighed. "Do you know anything I can go off of?" he asked hopefully.

Lucia though for a moment, trying to remember how she got him to back off from his most aggressive attacks. "He likes being told he's right," she finally decided. "Not in the, don't hurt me you're right, either. It has to be you genuinely believing that he is right in what he was doing. Or," she amended, "you believing in even a sliver of what he's telling you will make it seem like he's won. You have to get him to believe that you know he's right."

Sarge looked contemplative for a moment, nodding. "Makes sense," he agreed. "He—"

He didn't have time to finish as everyone's phones buzzed or made a small noise, signifying that everyone just got a text. "It's from Dad," Sarge realized.

They all opened the message. Lucia looked at Sarge questioningly. "They don't know which one is my number," she told her boss. "What exactly does your dad have our names as?"

Sarge grinned. "I went into his phone one day and switched all of the names to our nicknames. I guess dad just never changed them back." He frowned when he read the message, though.

_Come out, come out Lucia. We have things to discuss._

He quickly thumbed back a response. _She has nothing to discuss with you._

_Oh, but I think she's going to want to talk with me. After all, she knows what happens when I get angry._

A video link popped up, and everyone clicked on it. Lucia was out of the room before it even started, having an inkling about what was about to take place. "Dad," she heard whispered into her earpiece.

She was running as fast as she could towards the conference room. She couldn't let this happen. "Snips," she heard Wheels whisper. "Don't. My dad can take it."

"He shouldn't have to," she retorted. "I'm not letting Jake hurt him. He's hurt me plenty of times; I'm used to it."

"Please don't tell me he used _that_ on you," Sarge whispered.

Lucia didn't reply, she just shut off the video and kept running, knowing she could make it in time. She had to make it in time.

"Is that a _whip_?" came Red's disbelieving, quiet voice.

**Yeah, this is… I'm not sure about this, but I hope you all enjoyed it. It was said that Jake was abusive when Lucia was under his care, and one of the ways he abused her was physical abuse. But fortunately, Lucia isn't going to have to face this alone.**


	12. Chapter 12

**So, just to make sure everyone is caught up: Commander Holleran, Sergeants and Team Leaders except Team Three are all in the conference room. Team Three Sergeant and Team Leader were going to be there, but they got the hot call. Now, it's up to Team Five to rescue the hostages. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: nothing you recognize belongs to me.**

Lucia bolted; she was close. Even as she ran, though, voices in her ear pleaded with her not to do this. Wheels kept telling her that his dad could take it, but she didn't care. He shouldn't have to. Finally, Ninja's quiet voice broke through the rest.

"Enough," he ordered. "She has to do this; its part of who she is. Lucia," he whispered, and she knew that he understood. "Don't let him destroy you, okay?" His voice was shaky, though she was the only one who could tell. "Don't let him take you."

"I won't," she promised fiercely.

She had just made it to the door. Kicking it open, she rushed in. She barely took in the fact that there were seven subjects in the room: Jake, Grivans, and five others; she barely registered that Jake had just raised his arm. She just ran, throwing herself over her mentor as the whip came crashing down. She flinched and tightened her hold when it connected with her body, but she didn't scream. Jake loved to make her scream, and when she didn't comply it usually ended sooner.

She stood up quickly and spun when Jake prepared for another strike. This time, when it came crashing down, she moved her arm in such a way that it caused the whip to twirl around it, and then yanked on it, jerking it out of Jake's hands.

Jake shook his head. "Nice vest," he commented.

Lucia smirked. "Definitely takes most of the force," she agreed carefully. The weapon had connected to her body only slightly, the vest taking most of the force. It still hurt, but it drew no blood. She coiled the whip around her arm, holding the end in her hand. Jake shook his head. "What exactly do you plan to do with that?" he taunted. "Gonna hit me? Then what will your team think? Hitting an unarmed man with such an old-styled weapon?" He opened his arms teasingly. "Go ahead, kiddo. Give me your best shot."

"I'm not your kid," she retorted, before letting the whip fly. Instead of hitting Jake, though, she turned it on the men with guns, yanking a gun out of one of the men's hands. She used the momentum of the pull to get close and move behind the man, using him as a human shield from his fellow gang members.

"You know that you and your annoying little brother aren't going to get out of here alive, don't you kiddo?" Jake said. Lucia ignored him, instead focusing on taking the men in the room out. She grinned as Whiz played the music _Zero to Hero_ from _Hercules._

"Hang on, Snips," Sarge said into the comm. "We're on our way. Just hold on." She couldn't acknowledge him with anything more than a grunt as she slammed her captive into one of his friends. Another person came up and grabbed her from behind, but she lifted her legs up, causing him to take on all of her bodyweight as she kicked out at the man coming towards her from the front. The one holding her fell down, letting her go in the process, and she somersaulted away from his body. She pulled out her staff and readied herself as Grivans and the last of the five unknown people advanced towards her.

"You know, girl, this would be so much easier if you just told me where Justin is," Grivans pointed out. "We just want to take him and go."

"I think we both know that's not true." Lucia blocked a hit from the soldier as he struck out and whacked him firmly across the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. She turned to face Grivans.

"Why would you think that we want more from you?" he asked, voice sugary sweet. "All I want is what's rightfully mine."

"Justin isn't a property," she retorted, lunging towards the man. "He's a boy, and he's my brother." She went on the offensive, lashing out in a complicated pattern to take down the man that still gave nightmares to an eight-year-old boy. "And he wants nothing," she grunted as she twirled around, slamming her elbow in his nose, "to do with you." Grivans fell to the ground, clutching at his nose as blood spurted from it. He wasn't going to be a threat.

Lucia barely had time to recognize the all too familiar sound of a whip flying through the air before she could turn around, thrusting her staff forward protectively. It mostly halted the attack, but her arm was still hit, and blood began to pool at the slim marking. The staff was pulled from her hands as she was knocked backwards with a heavy punch to her face.

She landed a few feet away from Jake, who came closer to her, whip still in hand. "You were right, kiddo," he agreed. "It was never about Grivans' brat, though don't tell him that. You and your nuisance of a brother witnessed something that we couldn't just let go. And you made it all the more easier for us to track you when you joined this little cadet program."

"So let me get this straight," she said, touching her eye carefully. "You came here to kill Kyle and I in front of a bunch of cops? Not exactly your greatest plan, Jake."

He chuckled lowly, causing Lucia to glare up at him. She hated that laugh. "Ah, kiddo, do you really think I would come here with just that in mind? No one's going to know who came in here and killed all of your friends." Her eyes widened slightly, not liking where this was going. "Everyone thinks you died in a fire, Lucia," he said, leaning down so they were face-to-face. "So I guess you better die in one, huh?" She just kept looking at him. He stood back up. "Well, they'll all die in a fire. Bomb, actually." He shook his head and began to walk around, stepping carefully over the unconscious bodies littering the ground. "Right underneath this floor. It's going to be a wonderful sight to watch, all these people burning to a crisp, no one able to tell who's who."

"Keep him talking, Snips," she heard in her ear, relaxing fractionally ass he heard the familiar voice of Sarge. "Whiz, Red, and Wheels are going to try and disarm it now."

"He's playing with the same mindset I was, Lu," Ninja spoke up. "He still thinks it's just us against them. He doesn't care that he's heard Sarge talking to him before you even came and rescued Constable Lane. He still just thinks its you and I against the world, he doesn't believe that we really have a team. Otherwise he never would've told us about the bomb."

"I'll come in if things get really bad," Sarge came back in, "but for now it's best to let him just talk while we disarm that bomb."

"Sharp and I are taking out the rest of the men," Ninja added. "Soon it'll just be him, and then this'll be over."

She couldn't acknowledge her team, but she felt so much better knowing that they were taking care of the situation. So she just stayed still, letting Jake see the shock that was clearly written across her face. "Ah, kiddo," Lucia had to stop herself from rolling her eyes in aggravation at the 'kiddo', "it would've been so much easier if you had just stayed with me."

She snorted. "Easier for who, exactly? Definitely not for me."

"I would've protected you!" he raged, causing her to flinch slightly. Everyone else in the room was silent, just watching this play out. "You never would've had a bounty on your head, girl! You would've been safe with me."

"Safe?" Lucia's voice cracked in disbelief as she stood up. "What part of my life with you looked _safe_, Jake? Was it the nights I went to bed hungry? The lashes on my back that I had to treat so I didn't die of infection? The broken bones, the nightmares, the effort of living in fear of doing something wrong because I knew, I just knew that I would get in so much trouble for any little mistake and would still have to go to school the next day and pretend that nothing was wrong? The countless arms deals you made me do because you knew the police wouldn't arrest me? What part of that seems safe to you?" Her voice had gotten lower and lower, until people had to strain to hear it. All the anger, the frustration, everything was coming out all at once. "I was never safe with you, Jake. I was living in fear of a monster."

"I made you who you are! I created you, you owe me for everything that you have become!" He brought the whip down, but she ducked out of the way.

"No!" she shouted back. "You broke me, and _I_ had to pick up the pieces and put myself back together. _I_ had to pretend to be strong when all I wanted to do was break down and cry. _ I_ picked myself back up, _you_ did _nothing_ for me!" He tried bringing down the whip, but again she was able to move out of the way with ease.

Jake dropped the whip and brandished a gun, ready to kill her when: "That's not true." The quiet voice interrupted the two word-dueling people. Lucia looked in shock at her boss, wondering vainly why he was taking Jake's side. Jake, however, just looked triumphant. And a bit suspicious.

"What?" Lucia whispered.

Sarge flinched at the look in her eyes. "Think about it, Lu," he said, trying to make her understand. "Everything that's happened to you made you the person you are today. You are strong because you have been weak. You're good at tolerating pain because you've been dealing with it for most of your life. Everything that he's done to you has made you who you are."

"I did it," she whispered. "I made myself strong."

"Yes," Sarge agreed quickly, nodding. "But you wouldn't have had to make yourself strong if he hadn't done what he had done to you. Your amazingly good at fights, Lucia, because you've been in so many with him."

She snorted. "No I wasn't. It was just him beating me up all the time."

"But you got better at making the hits hurt less, didn't you?" Lucia stayed quiet. It was true. After awhile, she became better at reading whatever hit he was about to throw next and was able to prepare accordingly for it. "Admit it, Snips," he said softly. "Jake is right."

That's when everything clicked into place. Why he had been calling her Lucia instead of Snips until the very end. They were stalling, and he was using the information she had given him: believe that what he's telling you is true, that he's right. She had forgotten what was going on until Sarge said 'Snips' when talking to her. For awhile, she had slipped back to the past without even realizing it.

"You see, kiddo," her glare slapped back onto her face, "even your friends can see when I'm right."

"If he agrees with you, Jake, he's not friend of mine," she said harshly back. She looked at Sarge, and knew he understood.

"Lu—" he started

"Get out," she hissed at him. "I don't want to see you right now."

"I would take this chance, kiddo," Jake interrupted gleefully. "You're not going to get another one."

"I'm not your kid." Right at that moment, she could hear Whiz exclaim "Boo-yah!" and Wheels and Red let out a relieved, nearly hysterical laugh. "And I'll have plenty of chances to see him. Your bomb is defused, Jake," she said, standing firm and looking her tormentor in the eye. "My team got there and defused it."

Jake's brow furrowed. "Your what? But, you—no," he said, shaking his head. "You don't work well with others, you would never have a team." He pulled out what could only be the detonator and pressed it, then pressed it again when nothing happened. "No, you wouldn't do this. I know you, I made you, you would never trust others with something like this!"

"That's the difference between you and me, Jake," Lucia said softly, advancing. "I really do know you. You only think you know me." At that point, Kyle strode in, lazily twirling his knives expertly around his fingers. Red popped in from behind Jake, quietly freeing all the SRU members. "You blocked us in, that's true," conceded Lucia. "But it wasn't just me. I had my entire team here backing me up." Jake was still shaking his head, denying this. "You don't know me anymore, Jake. I'm not that scared eight-year-old girl who flinched at every noise you made, every step you took. I'm eighteen, and I have a team that I can count on. Look around you, Jake. Who do you have?"

"I have my gun," he said, pointing it at her once again. She hadn't realized he had lowered it earlier.

Before she could reply, someone else did. "I have a bigger one." Sharp walked in slowly, gun trained on Jake. "Put the weapon on the ground and place your hands behind your head," he ordered. "Do it now."

Jake scoffed. "You won't shoot me."

Sharp stared him down. "Try me. You're threatening my team; I'm within my right to take you down with lethal force. Put the gun on the ground and place your hands behind your head. Now."

Jake looked around him before finally he looked at Lucia again. They stared at each other, neither lowering their eyes, knowing what that would mean. It went on like that for a few minutes before he finally lowered his eyes and began to slowly put his gun on the floor. Only then did Lucia allow a smile to creep onto her face.

Finally, _finally_, she had won. Her team had won.

**Yea! Team Five totally won that round. Looks like Jake and Grivans aren't going to be bothering Lucia's family for a while, if ever. Go Team Five! Make them happy and please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I finally finished this story! There are two more chapters after this, well, one chapter and a short epilogue. So, I hope you enjoy this!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me.**

"Hey." Lucia barely acknowledged her boss as he settled down next to her. Sarge nudged her. "What are you thinking about, Snips?"

She sighed. After their victory, Commander Holleran was able to bring the building out of lock-down mode, and every SRU team rushed in. Spike worked with Whiz to make sure that the bomb was properly disposed of. Most of the team was talking with Team One and the Sergeants and Team Leaders, getting assurances that they did their job brilliantly. Lucia, however, had ducked outside of the conference room and walked swiftly to the locker room. "Snips," Sarge implored. Still, she said nothing. "Fine. Tell me what happened."

"What are you talking about? You were there," Lucia pointed out, confused.

"I meant what happened that led you to Toronto." She sighed, leaning against the lockers.

"I don't know what to say."

"Fine. I'll ask questions, you answer them, okay?" Lucia nodded. "Who's Roger and why does he mourn for you?"

She looked at him and sighed. "You just had to pick the hardest question, didn't you?" He stayed quiet, just watching her. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. "He was my boyfriend," she admitted. "Great guy, one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet from Brooklyn, New York. Football player, quarterback, actually."

"Was?"

She looked sideways at him. "Three months is a long time to expect someone to wait, don't you think?"

"It would never be long enough to wait for you, Snips," Sarge replied seriously.

She looked at him, sizing him and his answer up before shaking her head. "It's not just the past three months, Sarge," she said.

"Is this to do with the mourning part?"

"Partly. It was already going downhill before the bounty, though." She closed her eyes again. "Roger's a great guy, like I said. But he wasn't familiar with the fact that I could take care of myself. I don't like just sitting around and waiting for my Prince Charming to rescue me, Sarge, it's just not who I am."

"Never would've guessed," Sarge said sarcastically.

"Now who's making snippy comments?" she threw at him. He just gestured for her to continue with her story. She sighed. "He always wanted to protect me, which I get. I wasn't exactly the safest person out there. I worked in a police station, fought bullies, and beat the crap out of any guy who tried to make a grab at me on the street. I even had one of the gangs looking out for me just cause they thought I'd make a good addition to their gang and they wanted to keep me safe, event though I kept refusing to join them." She shook her head again, still leaning back against the lockers. "He always was telling me that I should be careful, that I should make sure I always had someone with me to look out for me. I'm not a kid, I can take care of myself." Sarge said nothing, just let her talk. "I was going to say something, you know. Though part of me knew I could never really say it. He had an innocent heart; I didn't want to break it. I wrote it out, though, on my computer at work. Cal probably found it and gave it to Roger with my luck." She looked at her boss, her friend. "I just didn't feel like I loved him anymore," she confessed. "And after everything that's happened, I feel like I'm doing something wrong, not loving him."

"You can't control your heart, Snips," Sarge said quietly. "Sometimes it makes decisions without your approval."

She snorted. "Yeah, I kinda figured that out." She was quiet for awhile. "I created a new Facebook account and checked to see how he was doing. I guess he got my letter, cause he's dating another girl. Amy, sweet girl." She nodded, and Sarge was astounded to see that she was actually happy for her ex-boyfriend. "She'll be good for him; he'll be good for her."

"Why did Grivans say he mourned for you?"

She looked down, not meeting his eyes. "You know how we said the gang put a bounty on our heads?" Sarge nodded. "Well, some people went to collect it. They put a bomb in our house, except we didn't know how to defuse a bomb. Luckily we got everyone out in time, but we didn't have our phones. The house exploded before we could call anyone. We didn't have a way to let people know we were okay. We were about to ask our neighbors if we could use their phones when we stopped."

"Why?"

"We had a _bounty on our heads_, Sarge. They would've kept coming after us if they knew we were alive. We snuck away before anyone could see us and found a way to contact Dave and Mary. They had been in New York because they were trying to work on this gang. When they found out that gang had tried to kill us and nearly succeeded, they suggested we enter Witness Protection Program."

"So why are you in Toronto?"

Lucia shrugged. "We tried the whole new names, new places, deal but Justin's young and didn't understand. We didn't want him to try and call us by new names, and he hated lying to people. He wouldn't become friends with anyone because he didn't want to lie just by telling his name to them. He's a sweet kid, and he needed a good home. So we decided to move out of the country and just moved here. It's a good neighborhood, it's safe, and Justin is able to tell people his actual name."

"But isn't it dangerous for you and Kyle to keep your names? Even if you had just changed your last names it would've been better."

Lucia shrugged. "Honestly, I just forgot." Sarge stared at her in amazement. "C'mon, Sarge, think about it. One day, out of the blue, you and Clark showed up when I was running and offered to show me around. You didn't ask me anything except my first name, and never pressured me into giving more information than I wanted to. You guys didn't want anything from me except to be my friend." She sighed. "Justin's right: you can't have friendships when all you're doing is lying to them over and over again. So I took a chance and told you guys the truth." She shrugged. "Well, as much truth as I could tell you. I've never really been close to anyone at my school because they all thought I was weird. They told me that it was wrong for a high school girl to be looking after five younger boys. We had a foster mom, and she was great, but there was only so much she could do. She was getting old and one day she told me that she needed to move to a retirement home. So she did, and I looked after my brothers."

"They didn't assign you a new foster family?"

Lucia shrugged. "They tried, but Cal offered to look after us. Him and his partner, Drake Matthews." She wrapped her arms tighter around her knees, drawing them close. "The hardest part of leaving was they don't even know we're alive," she whispered. "They were such great people. They checked in on us every day, multiple times, they made us dinner, though it was terrible, they tried, they played games, helped with homework, made sure the boys brushed their teeth and showered every night. They were good people, good role models."

"Good fathers?" Sarge suggested gently.

"I don't know what a real father is supposed to be like," Lucia confessed. "All I've ever had was Jake, and…"

"Hey, you know that I was with you the entire time, right?" Sarge interjected, worry in his tone. "I couldn't let him hurt you, so I took your advice."

"I know. I just… I think you were right."

"What?"

"Think about it. He hurt me, so I became strong. He was a monster, I made myself in such a way that I protected others from monsters."

"He wasn't a good man, Snips."

"Oh, I know, I just…" She shook her head. "I don't know." She was quiet for a moment before looking at Sarge. "Okay, so you know about Roger and how we ended up here. Anything else?"

"Yeah. What's really bothering you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you left before you could hear what Team One and everyone else had to say to us. What's going through your mind, Snips?"

She was quiet for a moment before she said in a very small voice: "Is he mad at me?"

Sarge couldn't do anything but stare at his second. "Is who mad at you?" All he could think she was talking about was Jake, but that didn't make any sense. She didn't care what he thought.

"Constable Lane."

Sarge looked at her even more strangely and was about to say something when: _Oh._ He finally understood. "No, Snips," he said softly. "I highly doubt that he is mad at you. Why would he be?" He thought he might understand, but he wanted to confirm it.

"Jake nearly hurt him because of me." Her voice was so quiet, so vulnerable, that it made Sarge just want to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

"Look at me, Lucia." She couldn't help but listen to him as she turned her eyes to his. "Uncle Ed doesn't blame you for this, not one bit. And if he does," he added when she opened her mouth, "then he's going to have to deal with Team Five." She looked at him oddly. "C'mon Snips, honestly? You're willing to do anything for us, why wouldn't we feel the same towards you?"

She shrugged, but he kept going. "It's just like you said, Lu. We're a team, and we protect our own."

She looked at him, and the look in her eyes said it all. She was about to say something in response when the door opened abruptly, and Kyle strode in. "What's up?" Lucia asked her brother.

He flashed her a smile. "Just got off the phone with the boss of the Unicorns."

She shot up. "You _WHAT?"_

He raised his hands calmingly. "Relax, Lu. The bounty is off our heads." She stared at him in shock, and he couldn't help but smile wider. "When he found out that our team, a bunch of teenagers, took down all of the men he sent, he figured he would be better off just ignoring us. He knows that Jake and Grivans are going down for this," he gestured around him, "and since it was them and a bunch of low-levels that committed the murder, he's just going to let it happen. We're going to be able to testify against them without worrying about repercussions from the gang. He's promised that he won't send any assassins after us. We're free, Lu."

She stared at him for a moment more before grabbing him fiercely in a hug, one that he returned with equal strength. "It's over," he whispered, slightly hysterical. "It's over."

Sarge quietly stepped out of the locker room. They deserved some time to let down their guard with each other, and he needed to make some phone calls.

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

Lucia stood just outside the house, anxious to go inside but dreading it all the same. Kyle stood to her right, Sarge to her left. She glanced at her brother.

He was always strong, always giving off the aura that he had everything under control. But Lucia knew her little brother. She could see that he was barely holding it together right now, and she touched his wrist lightly. He looked at her, eyes bright with unshed tears, and she nodded. He looked at her gratefully before backing away, going to stand by Wheels, who put an arm around his shoulders comfortingly.

She looked at her boss. "Stay with me?"

He smiled softly at her. "Always."

She nodded and took a breath, not wanting to delve too much into that one comment, before opening the door. The police had already arrested the men who did the crime, but they left the bodies when they heard that Lucia and Kyle were coming, something Lucia was grateful for.

She walked inside, Sarge staying close to her, not getting in the way but being present. She drifted slowly towards the room, the room where they were. Here, Sarge let her go by herself. He stayed at the entryway, but didn't venture inside.

"Hey Dave, Mary," she said softly. They were silent of course, eyes closed under the sheet that the police had thrown over them. She didn't lift it, wanting to remember them as they were, not how death had claimed them. "We got them," she whispered fiercely. "We're going to take them down. We're free, there's no longer a bounty on our heads." She sank to her knees. "I'm sorry," she said brokenly. "I'm so sorry that it took us so long. I'm sorry that you died. I'm sorry for everything."

Sarge came and took her gently by the arm, lifting her up into his embrace. "It's not your fault, Snips," he said softly. "It's not your fault."

FPFPFPFPFPFPFP

Justin and triplets were devastated when they found out what happened, but Lucia and Kyle were able to help them. Justin, especially, was feeling blame. But just like she had the night Lucia had been injured in the attempted kidnapping, Lucia knelt by the youngest. "It's not your fault, buddy. It's his and his alone."

He sobbed and threw himself into her embrace. He cried until he fell asleep, exhausted by the events of the day. He had been playing all day long, so of course he was tired, but throw the news of his foster parents' deaths and he was exhausted. She cradled him close until he finally dropped, and when he did she handed him over to Mrs. Wordsworth, who had offered her home to the small family for the time being. Lucia and Kyle knew they weren't going to be sleeping for a while, but it was a good place for Justin and the triplets to be.

The triplets were stoic, obviously blaming themselves for not being there. Finally Kyle threw his hands up. "And what would you have done?" he asked them. "Dave and Mary were trained by the CIA, they knew how to take care of themselves. What more do you want to know to get you to stop blaming yourselves? What could you have done?"

"We were trained by you and Lucia," Ben said stubbornly. "We could've helped."

At this, all of Team Five looked at their friends. Lucia shrugged. "What? You want us to leave them defenseless?"

"Yeah," Ben defended. "We can't be defenseless."

Nick shoved his brother. "You need to be able to fight to make up for the fact that you have no brains, dork."

The banter went around, lightening the mood. Sergeant Parker looked at his second, confused, and was about to say something when his son moved closer. "Don't," Dean whispered.

"This isn't normal," his father whispered back. "Most kids their age would be freaking out, crying. Why are they joking around?"

Dean shrugged. "This is their way of coping with things, dad," he told him. "They put on a show in front of others, they want to appear strong. That's their coping mechanism, to put others first. When they get somewhere quiet, when it's just them, then they'll let it all out." Sergeant Parker nodded thoughtfully as his son turned to his 'uncle'. "Are you mad at Lucia?"

Ed Lane turned to face the young cadet with such an incredible look of shock and confusion that Dean had to work hard to keep a smile off of his face. "Why on earth would you say that?"

"Because she thinks you are," Dean replied steadily. "She blames herself for Jake almost… hurting you."

"It's not her fault."

"So take her aside and tell her that. Because she is seriously blaming herself for what happened today, and no matter what I say, she won't listen to me. Kyle's not going to say anything, either. They're both in the blame mindset, though with different victims."

Constable Lane straightened from where he had been leaning against the car and walked over to the small, parent-less family. Dean turned to his father as the Team Leader went off to fetch his counterpart. "I need your help."

"Cadet Lucia, do you have a minute?" He knew that Dean was right when he saw the guilt in her eyes as she looked at him and nodded. He walked a ways away, her trailing closely behind. He went until he was sure they were out of earshot. "I wanted to say thank you," he started.

Her head snapped up, eyes widening in shock. "What?" she whispered. "Why? I nearly got you killed!"

He chuckled. "I wouldn't be so dramatic. He wouldn't have killed me." Lucia looked down. "I could have taken it, you know," he pointed out mildly. He wanted to know why she did it.

"So everyone keeps telling me," she grumbled, then stopped. She sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "You shouldn't have to take it," she said. "I've taken plenty of lashings from Jake before, I know how to deal with them. Besides, I had the vest."

"Something tells me you forgot about it until it took most of the force." The way she refused to look in his eyes proved him right. "You don't' have to take everyone else's pain, kid. You can't protect everyone."

"I protect my own." She looked down, as if not sure how he would react to her calling him, in some ways, a part of their strange little family.

"I get that. So thank you." He turned to go, but stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You left before we said anything, but you guys did an amazing job tonight. You did something few other teenagers could do, let alone even think of. Something tells me you were in charge of the planning, as well. The cameras, the music, everything."

She shrugged. "We started out with a plan, but then that just kinda…"

"Went ballistic?" Lane offered. She nodded. "Most plans do. But you guys kept going with the flow to work it out. You kept your heads. That is something that not many people can do, even adults. So don't sell yourself short." He paused for effect, then started to move away again. "You make a great team leader, Snips."

She stared after him in open shock at the nickname before a grin crept onto her face.

**So, a little heart to heart for Lucia. She definitely needed that. Now you know her backstory; what do you think? It doesn't delve into her past with Jake, but I think the last chapters were enough on that nightmare. And who exactly does Sarge want to call? What does he need help with? Anyone have any ideas? Please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: nothing you recognize belongs to me**

"We are here today to celebrate the graduation of one of our teams. They are incredibly smart, brave, and loyal to each other. They help everyone they meet, and they work well together to face even the toughest of assignments." Commander Holleran turned to the crowd. "Team Five, if you would please come up here."

One by one the cadets went up to the stage, standing shoulder to shoulder with each other. Their faces, bruised and battered, shone with barely contained excitement. This was going to prove that they were capable of doing this job. This was going to prove they were a part of the SRU. "Team One, if you could join your cadets."

Slowly, Team One complied, standing behind their counterparts. Sergeant Parker went behind his son, Constable Lane behind Lucia. Braddock stood behind Sharp, Spike behind Whiz, Lou behind Wheels, Jules behind Red, and Wordy behind Ninja. They looked just as excited as the young cadets.

"Now, we're not usually into the whole 'give a trophy' out kind of thing," Commander Holleran said. "We don't do this for the trophy, we do this to help people. This is our job; it's not something that we do for glamour. But something tells me you cadets already know that. So, the first things that we need to give you are these pins." He handed them to the SRU officers, who placed them on their companions' shoulders. "They say our motto: Connect, Respect, Protect. This is just a reminder for you so you will never forget what you learn here." In the crowd, the other teams and the families cheered loudly for their cadets. "Now, lastly, though you all are young, I don't think anyone here thinks of you as cadets anymore. You have proven to have the strength, loyalty, and respect of any team here. You are part of the SRU, and though you might go your separate ways for a while as you face school, whether it be high school or college, know that this is somewhere where you will always be welcomed, where you will always be acknowledged, where you will always have a place. Your teams become more than just a team. They become your family. So, with that in mind, and knowing that we can no longer call you cadets, we had these made up."

Behind him, the members of Team One each pulled out something. They were the vests that every SRU member had, but instead of Cadet written across the back, the bold names of **SARGE, SNIPS, SHARP, RED, WHIZ, WHEELS, **and **NINJA** were printed. The teens could only stare, astounded, as Team One put each one on their counterparts. "Always wear these vests with pride," Commander Holleran. "Pride that you have done something few others could accomplish, pride that you are part of the Strategic Response Unit." The audience began clapping again, this time more forcefully and longer than before. "Just remember," the Commander said firmly, "you only wear these to work." They all nodded, still too emotional to say anything. Commander Holleran nodded and went to sit down as Sergeant Parker took the microphone.

"My son came to me awhile ago, shortly after Team Five negotiated with and saved us from some people about a week ago. He told me that he needed help with something, and when he told me exactly what he needed help with, there was no way I could refuse." He took a moment to take a breath, looking around at his audience. Lucia was sending Sarge 'what is he talking about?' looks that he was blatantly ignoring, a grin on his face. "See, there are two members of this team here that are not originally from here." Lucia and Kyle glanced sideways at each other warily. "They are from New York, and have been taking care of their four younger siblings, a challenge in and of itself. Those four boys are actually in the audience, and are a part of what is about to happen. They have been very helpful in getting the information we needed for this." Lucia shot a questioning look at her brothers, but they just grinned broadly. She raised an eyebrow, but Ben shook his head.

Through their silent exchange, Sergeant Parker was still talking. "These two teenagers left home to protect the people that they were closest to, something very few people would actually have the courage to do. They have been forced to act as adults in a time where they should be most free to act like the teenagers they are, and they have done superbly at the task they have set forth for themselves." Lucia thought he was going a bit on, but made no move to stop him. She was dying of curiosity, wondering where exactly Sergeant Parker was going with this. "These two teens were actually, I believe the words they used were interns, at the police department in New York. I'm not sure what exactly it is they did, but I do know that they worked mostly with two detectives. A Detective Cal Pierce and Detective Drake Matthews." Finally, he turned to face the siblings, who had been left alone in the front of the stage as the rest of their team moved quietly to the sideline. "Lucia, Kyle, why don't you turn around and say hello?"

At first they stared at him in confusion, but when the words finally clicked in their minds, their eyes widened as one at the implied meaning of what was about to happen. Slowly, they turned, hoping beyond hope that they were correct in interpreting his meaning. They were.

There, standing side-by-side and grinning like idiots, were the two detectives. The two men who had tried their best to take care of them, who had taught them hand-to-hand combat, who had shown them the little tricks that went into catching a killer. The two men who couldn't cook to save their lives, but tried anyway when it had been a bad day and no one in their small family could be bothered. The two men who kept their family from being separated in the foster system.

"Cal," Lucia breathed. Kyle said nothing, just stared in awe.

And then they were running, leaping into the waiting arms. Lucia bolted to Cal, hugging him as strong arms encircled her and held her close. She didn't have to look to know that her brother and Drake were doing the same. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she looked at the face she hadn't thought she would see again. She pushed her face into his shoulder, letting the silent tears fall. His hold didn't falter.

When she was done crying, she vaguely began to recognize the sound of clapping. She turned to see everyone in the audience on their feet as her brothers came up onto the stage and got their hugs. Lucia relinquished her hold so Cal could embrace her brothers, and turned to her boss. She pulled him close and hugged him, a hug that he gladly returned. "Thank you," she whispered, and that was all she needed to say to Sarge. All of her happiness, her awe, her every emotion was conveyed in that simple phrase.

"Anytime," he whispered back.

**So, their crazy family got reunited with their favorite detectives! What a happy reunion. **

**These cadets have finally proven themselves to everyone in their families, as well. This story is going to have one more chapter, an epilogue to finish it all. Please review and tell me what you think!**


	15. Chapter 15

**I am almost sad to put up this final chapter, wanting to go on. However, that is not to be. I hope you enjoy this final chapter of The Secrets We Carry!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me**

"So," Cal said, looking down at his young friend.

"So," Lucia replied, smiling up at him. He couldn't help but grin back.

There was a big party going on, and all of Team Five were seated at one of the tables. Family members and other SRU teams came by, offering congratulations on a job well done, saying how proud they were. Lucia had noted with a frown that Red didn't have her family come, but when she asked, the redhead had just shrugged and said that her parents were travelling and weren't able to come. Lucia and Cal were walking and talking, wanting to go somewhere private to catch up.

"When are you guys coming home, Lu?" he asked.

She froze at the question, realizing that of course he was expecting them to go back home now that they were free. Why wouldn't they? He looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. She looked at him and couldn't help but remember her conversation with Dave after their first evaluation, the way she was so split on whether she wanted to go home or stay here.

And then, she realized, she _was _home. This was her home. Toronto. This was the place where she felt she belonged, where she was accepted, where she had a team. She knew Kyle felt the same, and she was betting that the others had similar feelings to their own.

Justin had made tons of friends, and he had made especially good friends in the Wordsworth girls. He had play dates, plans for school that was happening in just a couple of weeks, and excitement for everything about this place. He called their house here _home_.

The triplets were playing baseball without looking over their shoulders, a habit they could never break in Brooklyn. They felt safe here, and they had friends here as well. She was willing to bet that were looking forward to going to high school here, as well.

She looked up and realized that Cal was waiting for an answer. "We are home, Cal," she said softly. "We're not going back to New York. Kyle and I will go for the trial, but after that we're coming home."

Cal looked confused. "But—" he seemed to change his mind. "Did the rest of your brothers agree to this?" he asked.

She shrugged. "To be honest, we never talked about it after—" She couldn't continue with that train of thought. "About a month ago we signed the boys up for school and I applied for community college here."

"That was before you knew you could come home," Cal pointed out.

"I know, but—Cal, I haven't talked about moving back or staying here with them yet. It just hasn't crossed our minds. We've been cleaning up the mess Jake and Grivans left, and we're getting back into the house. We finally got everything cleaned just two days ago, and after that we were getting ready for the ceremony today. The thought just hasn't crossed our minds to discuss, but I don't think we'll need to."

"Who's going to look after you, Lu?"

She shrugged and smiled softly at him. "It used to be that I was able to look after the boys as long as you and Drake came and checked in on us at least once a day. It's going to be the same, just with different people checking in on us."

Finally Cal sighed and lowered his head before looking at her. "I guess I'm not gonna change your minds, huh?"

She shook her head quietly. "No."

With that, he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Fair enough," he said. "I've always told you to trust your instincts and to do what you believed to be right. If you think that it's the right thing to do, staying here, who am I to argue?" She smiled at him gratefully as he pulled her into a hug from behind. "Let's go back to the party, huh?"

When they got back, Team Five came over to her. "Chatterbox," Whiz ribbed. "Geez. Keeping him all to yourself so he can't tell us any embarrassing stories about you?"

She snorted. "He won't tell you anything because one: he doesn't have any embarrassing stories of me and two:" she smirked at Cal, "if he did and he told you, I have tons of stories I can tell about him."

"Blackmail," Cal grumbled good-naturedly.

"Leverage," she corrected him, smirking all the while.

Their team circled around, laughing and joking. Lucia joined in, but she was watching her younger brothers. She indicated subtly that she wanted to talk to him. Quietly they slipped away.

She got together with Kyle, Ben, Nick, John, and Justin. "I have something very important and very serious I need to ask you," she began. They all looked at her, brows furrowing as they tried to figure out what she wanted to know. "Cal and I were talking earlier, and he had asked me when we were going home." She watched their reactions.

Kyle was silent, looking at her calmly, and raised an eyebrow when she met his gaze. _We are home_, it clearly said. The triplets looked uncomfortable, a clear indication that they didn't like whatever response they thought she might've given Cal. Then she turned to Justin, who just looked outright confused. "We are home," he said, tilting his head as if he didn't understand the question. She looked at the rest of her family, who was nodding in agreement.

"What did you tell him?"

The question came from behind her, and she turned in surprise to find her team there. She shrugged, smiling. "What Justin said," she said, and the rest of her team began to smile as well. "We are home."

**Aww! They're home and they don't want to go back to New York. They want to stay right where they are…**

**So, I hope you enjoyed this small chapter! I also have something to say: I'm writing a…what is it called? A companion fic? It's going to be about Red and Jules, mostly. So please check for it! It should be posted right after this chapter comes up! It will be called ****_Letting Go_**

**I hope you enjoyed this story! Please review and tell me what you thought.**


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